Huddled around a screen after the regular-season finale against St. Mary's, the mood of the St. Edward's women's basketball team changed as rapidly as Texas weather.

An exhausted, shorthanded Hilltoppers team coming off their fourth game in eight days had just suffered defeat in San Antonio. The loss took their postseason hopes out of their hands and put them in a series of unlikely tiebreakers. When Western New Mexico upset Eastern New Mexico, giving St. Edward's the final spot in the Lone Star Conference Tournament, the team's spirits shifted to joy. 

"At the end of the St. Mary's game, you think your season is over, and you have something taken away from you that you've fought for months for," St. Edward's head women's basketball coach J.J. Riehl says. "Then 45 minutes later, there's an upset, and you're going through the tiebreakers and realize you're going. But, unfortunately, sometimes things have to be taken away to realize what they meant to us." 

It was a circuitous route to the conference tournament that few outside the team's inner circle expected them to make. St. Edward's was voted 11th in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll. That was before the Hilltoppers lost two players before the first game and two others in the middle of the season. 

"Making the conference tournament is always exciting, but for this group, with the year we've had, it makes it much more memorable," St. Edward's head women's basketball coach J.J. Riehl says. "They've been so resilient and convicted in their expectation that it was a no-excuse year. I'm super proud of them." 

St. Edward's sometimes struggles to score with the offensive firepower it lost before and during the season. However, through trial and error, the Hilltoppers eventually found a foundation to build on. 

St. Edward's relies on its defense, which SAMMIE DUFEK anchors. The greatest shot-blocker in program history, Dufek ranks first in the conference in blocks and seventh nationally. Her rim protection allows wings JAYDA RUFFUS-MILNER and LAUREN CATHERMAN to aggressively hunt steals all over the court, turning defense into transition opportunities to supplement the offense. 

"We understand everything starts on the defensive end. When you look at games where we've been competitive, they're always defensive-oriented," Riehl says. "Defense creates so much momentum for us. It makes easier looks for our offense. With a team that struggles offensively like ours, getting out in transition is huge.

"The flip side and the challenge for us is that we often put too much pressure on our defense to get stops. You can't put that much pressure on your defense at this level." 

MORGAN GARY carried the offense for much of the season with her barreling drives, relentless work on the offensive glass, and emerging outside shooting touch. The team found supplementary scoring from Ruffus-Milner working from the elbows and short corner, along with LAUREN CATHERMAN's slithering drives. When both are firing on all cylinders, they boost the offense's efficiency with their ability to get to the free-throw line. 

RONNIE CANTU has stepped into the starting point guard position, evolving from the change-of-pace reserve guard to a growing caretaker of the offense who's shown some aptitude for hitting big shots in close games.

Dufek isn't a featured offensive player, but she's shown flashes of a dependable midrange jumper and surprises with the occasional foray to the rim from her dribble. 

Injuries have depleted the Hilltoppers' depth, but MATILDA SORIC provides quality size and shooting to space the floor and help in defensive rotations. In addition, BELLA MUSCOREIL is an excellent inside scoring threat against certain matchups, and AINSLEY THUNELL, DAFNE GIANESINI, and MIKAH CHAPMAN have all provided energy when called to contribute. 

"When you look back at our season, there wasn't one game we needed to win that they didn't figure out a way to give us that opportunity," Riehl says. "We may not have had the big upsets against the top four or five schools, but we were outstanding in the rest of the games and did everything we needed to ensure we were headed to Frisco this week." 

Their reward is a Thursday evening game against the top-ranked Texas Woman's University (24-4). The Pioneers are weaponized consistency, led by the inside-outside duo of Ashley Ingram and Sadie Moyer. 

Texas Woman's doesn't have to overwhelm with any singular knockout punch. Instead, the Pioneers execute their game plan steadily, creating separation when an opponent drops its guard. 

St. Edward's has been able to disrupt Texas Woman's at times, as it did with a full-court press to take a big lead in the first quarter of its road game earlier this season. However, the Hilltoppers have been unable to lock into that peak for all 40 minutes through two losses this season.

"The challenge against TWU is understanding who we are and controlling the pace of the game in certain moments," Riehl says. "Our team believes we can play with anyone. We've played portions of games competitively against TWU, nationally-ranked Tampa, and taken Texas-Tyler to the buzzer. However, we understand they're a great basketball team, so it will take 40 great minutes from us." 

For a Hilltoppers team that has had to battle its way to every win, they've all the motivation they need to put it together for 40 more minutes. 

"There's a greater sense of appreciation, gratitude, and joy with our group right now. One, we're still playing; two, we've reached our goal; and three, the bond with this group is special," Riehl says. "They realize they have a special group this year and want to fight to keep that going for the next few days."