AUSTIN, Texas – BAILEY FEATHERSTONE led four St. Edward's starters in double figures, and the St. Edward's women's basketball team controlled the paint in a 62-28 victory over the Huston-Tillotson Rams. 
 
Featherstone and JAYDA RUFFUS-MILNER set the tone early. On the Hilltoppers' first halfcourt possession, Ruffus-Milner received the ball deep in the post, tilting the defense towards her, and swung it to Featherstone, who immediately attacked the closeout for the layup and foul.
 
Ruffus-Milner was relentless the entire quarter, attacking the glass for three offensive rebounds, scoring two putbacks, a driving layup, and a fast-break pull-up jumper as time expired in the first quarter to give the Hilltoppers a 17-11 lead. 
 
Huston-Tillotson's Destiny Stanford scored the first five points of the second quarter, hitting a difficult floater in the lane and a 3-pointer to cut the Rams' deficit to one. LAUREN CATHERMAN responded with a mini 5-0 run, draining a stepback jumper, then triggering a fastbreak with a defensive rebound and long outlet to JANIAH PERKINS to push the lead back to five. 
 
Catherman scored 10 points on a blistering 4-for-5 shooting in the second, slicing through the defense for a layup and combining with Featherstone on a late 10-0 run to give the Hilltoppers a 35-17 lead with 1:53 remaining. Featherstone scored on a pair of short jumpers off feeds from Rebekka Renczes, then found Catherman for a 3-pointer, followed by another Catherman corner 3-pointer on a great quick read from JP. 
 
The Hilltopper defense was stifling, limiting the Rams to 3-for-12 shooting and outscoring them 20-10 to take a 37-21 lead at the break. 
 
Catherman and Ruffus-Milner scored 10 points and five rebounds each, combining to shoot 9-for-12 from the field. St. Edward's grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, outscoring Huston-Tillotson 13-1 on second-chance points.
 
The defense remained sharp in the second half, limiting Huston-Tillotson to single-digit scoring in the third and fourth quarters. Featherstone made a personal 6-2 run in the final three minutes of the third quarter, scoring on a short jumper on a baseline inbounds play, tipping in her own miss in transition, and draining a pull-up jumper in transition. 
 
Five different Hilltoppers scored in the fourth quarter, and the defense held Huston-Tillotson to 3-for-13 from the field to seal the win. 
 
Featherstone scored 16 points on an efficient 7-for-13 shooting and grabbed four rebounds. Catherman and Ruffus-Milner played limited minutes in the second half, finished with ten points each, and combined for 13 rebounds. JP scored seven of her 11 points in the second half, finishing 5-for-7 with four rebounds and four assists. Stanford led Huston-Tillotson with 10 points on nine shots, hitting a pair of 3-pointers. 
 
St. Edward's improved to 1-3 with the win. Next week, the Hilltoppers will travel to New Mexico to play Eastern New Mexico on Thursday, Nov. 30, and Western New Mexico on Saturday, Dec. 2.