LAREDO, Texas – St. Edward's women's basketball shot 21.3 percent from the floor Thursday, but held Texas A&M-International to 21.7 percent shooting to grind out a 34-31 win.
 
KHIANI CLARK led the winning effort with 12 rebounds, while HALEY JOLY led in scoring with nine points. SHAKERA BARNES managed a pair of assists in the low-scoring affair.
 
St. Edward's (15-6, 11-1 Heartland) extends its lead in the Heartland Conference standings as second-place St. Mary's suffered another loss. Texas A&M-International (2-20, 2-10 Heartland) remains eighth in the league.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• All points in the first quarter were scored in the opening five minutes as the Dustdevils took a 10-4 lead.
• Clark sparked a 6-0 run to start the second period and scored six of the Hilltoppers' eight points to make it 14-12 at the half.
• Neither team scored in the third quarter until a 3-pointer from LEXI FATHEREE at the 6:34 mark.
• An 8-0 run over the next three minutes of play put St. Edward's ahead 20-14.
• The Dustdevils scored five points in the final three minutes of the third period to pull within one, 20-19.
• Texas A&M-International retook the lead, 24-20, to start the fourth quarter.
• Joly led the Hilltoppers' comeback, scoring seven of St. Edward's final 14 points.

 
HILLTOPPER NOTES

• St. Edward's matched its second-best defensive performance in program history.
• The Hilltoppers held Concordia to 31 points in the 2013-14 season and Our Lady of the Lake to 23 points in 1981.
• Clarks 12 rebounds are a season high for the senior.
• The Hilltoppers out-rebounded the Dustdevils 44-29.

 
QUOTE BOARD: HEAD COACH J.J. RIEHL
"You have to give a lot of credit to Texas A&M-International. They really took us out of any kind of rhythm we could find offensively. There's games like this where we don't shoot well, but we dug in defensively. We got stop after stop. We did enough to get it done down the stretch and I'm proud of the kids for that."
 
UP NEXT
St. Edward's heads to San Antonio to face St. Mary's at 1:00 p.m. Saturday at Bill Greehey Arena. Live stats and video of the Battle of the Saints will be available at GoHilltoppers.com.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: St. Edward's 34, TAMU-International 31
Records: St. Edward's (15-6, 11-1 Heartland), Texas A&M-International (2-20, 2-10 Heartland)
Leading Scorers: St. Edward's-Joly (9), Texas A&M-International-Perez (11)
Attendance: 275
 
HEARTLAND CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Team                       Conference                Overall
St. Edward's             11-1                            15-6
St. Mary's                  9-3                              17-5
Lubbock Christian     8-3                              13-9
UA Fort Smith           8-4                              13-10
Oklahoma Christian  7-5                              12-12
Newman                    6-6                              16-8
Rogers State             3-10                            7-16
TAMU-International  2-10                             2-20
Panhandle State       0-12                            1-19
 
 
For the latest information on the St. Edward's University Women's Basketball team, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @SEUWBasketball, or visit us at www.GoHilltoppers.com.