Box Score Box Score

THE RUNDOWN
AUSTIN, Texas – The St. Edward's University women's basketball team had its second-best shooting game of the season Wednesday as it took down St. Mary's 70-62 in the Battle of the Saints inside the Recreation and Convocation Center.
 
The Hilltoppers (5-5, 1-1 HC) trailed the Rattlers (4-7, 0-1 HC) for just four minutes of play as they shot 45-percent from the floor and a season-high 52-percent from 3-point range. Lexi Cunningham and Fairen Sutton had career highs with 18 points and 14 points, respectively.

St. Mary's jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first two minutes of play, but SEU closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run to take a 16-13 lead. The Hilltoppers never looked back, leading by as many as 19 points with 7:50 remaining in the game.

Seniors Saundra Guillory and HALEY JOLY were key in the victory. Guillory blocked a career-high five shots and led the team with two steals and 10 rebounds. Joly dished out a career-best six assists to go along with six rebounds and five points. BAILEY HILL joined the double-digit scoring party with 11 points.
HIGHLIGHTS

• St. Edward's is 27-56 in the all-time Battle of the Saints series.
• Wednesday marks the Hilltoppers' third-straight home win over the Rattlers – the most consecutive home victories in the series since winning five-straight from 1987-92.
• Cunningham has scored in double digits three times this season and eight times in her career. Her last double-digit scoring game was Nov. 18 against Texas A&M-Commerce.
• Hill's three made 3-pointers move the junior into 10th-place all-time at SEU with 87 3-pointers made in her career.
• Hill and ABBY HOPPER both surpassed 400-career points in the win over St. Mary's.
• Sutton's 14 points mark the first double-digit scoring game of her career.
• Guillory's five blocks are the most in a single game in the last 10 years – she has combined for eight blocks in the last two games.
• Guillory is the only Hilltopper with multiple double-digit rebounding games this season.
• Head Coach J.J. Riehl is 4-8 in her career against the Rattlers.
• Coach Riehl's career record is 84-66 in six seasons at St. Edward's.

STAT OF THE GAME I
7 – The Hilltoppers committed a season-low seven personal fouls Wednesday and no player for SEU collected more than two.

STAT OF THE GAME II
12 – St. Edward's turned the ball over a season-low 12 times as it forced 17 St. Mary's turnovers.

TOP QUOTE
Head Coach J.J. Riehl on the win…
"A couple of stats stand out to me - turnovers and assists. We've gotten away from ball security the last couple of weeks so that was huge. They really revved up the pressure in the fourth quarter. We had them down 19 and they really started putting pressure on us. For a young team that's trying to figure it out, having just 12 turnovers is huge. The other thing is the 17 assists. We've struggled with the scoring piece and we've gone to everyone trying to do it themselves and we had gotten away from what we're good at."

Sophomore guard Fairen Sutton on her career-high 14 points.
"Actually I wasn't really focused on how many points I was going to score. Whatever I can do to help my team win – that's what was on my mind."

WHAT'S NEXT
The Hilltoppers head to Odessa, Texas, Dec. 15 to face UT Permian Basin at 6 p.m. inside the Falcon Dome. Live stats will be available at GoHilltoppers.com.

Follow St. Edward's Women's Basketball all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @SEUWBasketball