SAN ANTONIO, Texas – St. Edward's Women's Basketball pushed St. Mary's to the limit on Thursday night, but came just shy of the season sweep in a 59-57 loss.
KHIANI CLARK recorded her ninth double-double of the season, leading the Hilltoppers with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
BAILEY HILL also scored in double digits, shooting 40 percent from behind the arc with 12 points. She also blocked a pair of shots.
SHAKERA BARNES matched her career high in assists for the third time with eight, and scored eight points as well on 4-of-8 shooting.
St. Edward's moves to 8-13 on the season and 6-7 in Heartland Conference play. St. Mary's improves to 15-7 and 9-5. The Hilltoppers still hold the edge in the 2015-16 Battle of the Saints with wins in men's and women's soccer, and a sweep in basketball at home.
"Obviously it's a tough one. We were in a position to pull off the win here at St. Mary's, and didn't capitalize," said head coach J.J. Riehl. "I thought the difference was a five or six minute stretch in the third quarter. We just didn't handle their pressure. We didn't attack, and the offense got stale. Hopefully we'll learn from it, but there's not a lot of time to dwell on this. We have another big game on Saturday."
The Rattlers came into the night having won the last 10 at home against the Hilltoppers, but St. Edward's proved it was a worthy opponent. After one quarter of play the game was even at nine, and at the half Coach Riehl's squad held a five-point advantage.
However, in the third quarter, the home team outscored the Hilltoppers by seven. The visitors matched St. Mary's in the fourth period, 17-17, but it was not enough. St. Edward's outrebounded, and out assisted its opponent, but the difference came down to steals, and points off of turnovers.
The Hilltoppers may get a chance to avenge the loss in the Heartland Conference Tournament, but for now they will focus on their game this Saturday. Coach Riehl and her team travel to Laredo, Texas to take on Texas A&M-International at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available through links at GoHilltoppers.com.
| Heartland Conference Standings |
| Team | HC | OVERALL |
| Lubbock Christian | 12-0 | 20-0 |
| TAMU-International | 10-4 | 13-9 |
| UA Fort Smith | 9-4 | 16-6 |
| St. Mary's | 9-5 | 15-7 |
| Oklahoma Christian | 9-5 | 12-12 |
| Rogers State* | 7-7 | 12-9 |
| St. Edward's | 6-7 | 8-13 |
| Newman | 4-10 | 10-12 |
| UT-Permian Basin | 1-12 | 5-18 |
| Panhandle State | 0-13 | 1-20 |
| *-Not Eligble for Postseason Play | | |
| | |
| Thursday, February 11 | | |
| St. Mary's def. St. Edward's, 59-57 | |
| TAMU-International def UT-Permian Basin, 60-47 | |
| Rogers State def. Panhandle State, 75-52 | |
| Oklahoma Christian def. Newman, 65-62 |
| Lubbock Christian def. UA Fort Smith, 82-54 | | |
| | |
| Saturday, February 13 | | |
| St. Edward's at TAMU-International | 1:00 PM |
| Rogers State at Lubbock Christian | | 1:00 PM |
| UT-Permian Basin at St. Mary's | 1:00 PM |
| UA Fort Smith at Panhandle State | 1:00 PM |
