Jan. 22, 2009

Final Stats

St. Mary's defeated Texas A&M International University 79-70 in Heartland Conference action on Thursday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena on the St. Mary's campus in San Antonio. The loss was the first in conference play for the Dustdevils this season, snapping a three-game Heartland winning streak.

The game went back-and-forth early, with TAMIU (6-10, 3-1 Heartland) taking a 25-23 lead on two free throws by Mary Tobias at the 4:01 mark of the first half. St. Mary's (15-2, 4-0) would go on a 14-6 run from that point to stake a 37-31 halftime lead.

The Dustdevils got close several times in the second half but the Rattlers answered every close call with a decisive run. St. Mary's went on an 8-0 run after Krystal Manning cut the lead to 37-36 on a layup at the 17:52 mark before going on a 7-0 run after a Manning layup that cut the lead to 49-47 at the 12:13 mark.

The lead stood at 14 points at the 3:32 mark and 10 points at the 2:30 mark but TAMIU fought back to cut the deficit to 73-70 on a 3-pointer by Valerie Villanueva with one minute remaining. The Dustdevils missed three field goal attempts the rest of the way and St. Mary's made four of four free throw attempts to secure the win.

Jasmine June led TAMIU with 21 points with Manning contributing 17 points, five steals and five assists. Tobias notched 15 points and Chevelle Hoyle finished with a team-high eight rebounds.

TAMIU returns to action on Saturday at St. Edward's. Tip-off for the Heartland Conference contest is scheduled for 2p.m.