LAREDO, Texas  –  Texas A&M International University women's basketball (0-26, 0-14 Heartland Conference) dropped a 69-58 home decision to the St. Mary's University Rattlers (17-9, 7-7 Heartland Conference) on Saturday afternoon.

In the opening quarter, TAMIU erupted offensively and compiled a 15-2 scoring spree in a span of 2:48. The run featured a trio of three-pointers Alliyah Bryant with 7:28 showing on the clock and 33 seconds later, Vanessa Oyola found Tacoya Allen beyond the arc to bring the Dustdevils within one point (9-8). The spurt was capped off on a layup by Bryant to give the Dustdevils a six-point lead with 4:40 left (17-11).

Arysia Porter poured in the final six points of the first quarter in the final 2:02 of play to give the Rattlers a 21-17 lead after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Dustdevils scored seven consecutive points that was ignited on a three-point play converted by Ciera Walker at 7:32 and concluded on a Marina Gatica shot from downtown to cut the deficit to a pair of points (26-24) with 4:32 remaining in the half.

Christine Ortega tallied the final five points in the second period including a layup with 20 seconds left send a 35-29 game, in favor of St. Mary's, into the break.

In the opening 3:15 of the second half, St. Mary's used a 10-4 run that featured layups by Kaitlin Walla, Hannah Wilson and Porter that gave the Ratters a 12-point cushion (45-33).

The Dustdevils closed out the third quarter strong as they scored six straight points including a pair of free throws hit by Bryant and four points scored by Ortega to slash the deficit to single digits (48-39) with 1:10 remaining in the period.

The Rattlers held a nine-point advantage heading into the final quarter of play (53-44).

In the last period, St. Mary's scored the first five points and ultimately held on to their lead en route to the road victory.

Ortega (3-of-8 FG) and Bryant (3-of-7 FG) contributed 10 points apiece for TAMIU while Kendall Alsup grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and was one point shy of a double-double.

Porter had game highs of 12 points (5-of-5 FT) and eight assists while also adding five boards to her statline.   

In the end, Texas A&M International shot 36.2 percent (21-of-58) from the field, 27.6 percent (8-of-29) from three-point range and 72.7 percent (8-of-11) from the free-throw line while the Rattlers shot 38.3 percent (23-of-60) from the floor, 23.8 percent (5-of-21) from beyond the arc and 72 percent (18-of-25) from the charity stripe. St. Mary's held the advantage in rebounds (38-34) and steals (13-6) while the Dustdevils led the way in assists (17-13) and tied blocks with one apiece. The Dustdevils also scored eight second-chance points off nine offensive rebounds.

TAMIU plays its next game in the first round of the Heartland Conference Tournament against Lubbock Christian University in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Thursday, March 7 at 5 p.m.