SAN ANTONIO – St. Edward's did a better job managing its volume of turnovers but struggled with the timing, committing back-to-back turnovers in the final two minutes of a tightly contested 64-60 loss to Regis University.
In their second game of the season, the Hilltoppers played with more purpose in its half-court sets, especially by getting the ball into the hands of fifth-year forward MORGAN GARY with a properly spaced court.
Gary set the tone in the first quarter, scoring eight points on 4-for-6 shooting by slashing to the basket off her dribble, attacking closeouts, and using a screen to get an angle and her strength to create space. Unfortunately, the rest of the team struggled from the field, getting only three made free throws to supplement Gary's early scoring burst to trail 15-11 after the first quarter.
The Hilltoppers produced a more balanced attack in the second quarter, getting production from seven different players via player and ball movement, assisting on four of their eight made field goals.
Gary again led the charge with four points and three assists in the quarter. She found teammates within the flow of the offense, like the feed from the wing to MATILDA SORIC running off a cross-screen for a layup, or amid chaos, finding RONNIE CANTU for an open 3-pointer immediately after securing an offensive rebound.
Soric brought the Hilltoppers within one at 22-21 on a pull-up 3-pointer coming off a screen, but the Hilltoppers followed with three turnovers on four possessions, leading to a fastbreak layup, 3-pointer, and turnaround jumper. After trading buckets with Regis taking a 32-25 lead on a Madison Diercks 3-pointers, the Hilltoppers closed the half on a 6-0 run with baskets from Gary and Jayda Ruffus-Milner and a pair of free throws from LAUREN CATHERMAN drawn on a fast break to trail 32-31 at the half.
Both teams struggled from the field in the third quarter, with each shooting 5-for-15. But Regis found an edge in the margins, hitting two 3-pointers and getting to the free-throw line for five attempts, hitting all of them for a 49-44 lead.
St. Edward's opened the final quarter with an interesting two-big lineup, going with centers SAMMIE DUFEK and BELLA MUSCOREIL in at the same time and getting a nice high-low from Muscoreil to Dufek for the and-one layup and free throw.
The Hilltoppers chipped away at the lead with a solid defensive performance, limiting Regis to 2-for-11 shooting. Gary brought St. Edward's within one, using a Muscoreil screen to get the angle for a driving layup. After a defensive stop, Muscoreil grabbed an offensive rebound, leading to Catherman drawing a foul to tie the game at 50 with a free throw.
Catherman followed that with a steal, digging in on a post-entry pass to Sydney Speights on one end and hitting a step-back jumper on the other. ISABEL LANGENBERG hit a pair of two-point jumpers to give the Hilltoppers a five-point lead; then both teams exchanged baskets, with Sam Deem scoring on a turnaround jumper and Gary scoring a driving layup for the 58-53 lead with 4:03 remaining.
The Hilltopper offense struggled the rest of the way, shooting 0-for-6 from the field and 2-for-6 from the free-throw line with three turnovers, including on back-to-back possessions to surrender the lead on an Erin Fry driving layup.
Gary led St. Edward's with a career-high 23 points on 10-for-18 shooting and matched her career-high of 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Soric led a bench group that outscored their Regis counterpart 18-5 with seven points on 3-for-6 shooting.
Four of Regis's five starters scored in double figures, led by Josey Ryan's 14 points. Diercks and Deem added 13 each.
St. Edward's falls to 0-2 this season. The Hilltoppers will return home to host NCAA Division III Texas Lutheran on Thursday and Huston Tillotson on Saturday.
