Box Score SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team made a late run at St. Mary's in the season opener for both teams Friday night in the St. Mary's Classic but came up short 72-64.
The Javelinas had three players finish in double figures led by Division I transfer Rosalie Cutri, who had 20 points in her debut. Fellow newcomer Lindsey Mahone and Ashley Viera each had 10 points for Kingsville.
After falling behind the Rattlers 11-2 and then 20-10, the Javelinas went on as 13-2 run later in the half to take a 23-22 lead on a steal and bucket by Mahone. Cutri had six points in the run and Mahone five.
Jackie Woods promptly gave the lead back to the hosts with a 3-point basket for a 25-23 advantage. Woods led all players with 26 points.
St. Mary's, which advanced to the NCAA regionals a season ago, would lead 34-29 at the intermission and extended the advantage to as many as 15 points twice in the second half. The last time was at 52-37 at the midpoint of the second half.
Kingsville was still down 10 points with four minutes remaining after a trey by Kyra Littlejohn.
After the sides traded buckets, the Javelinas hit back-to-back threes to pull within four with 1:31 remaining. Tonje Milde hit the first three and Viera the second. The Hoggies had hit one of their first 20 attempts from behind the arc.
St. Mary's hit 3-of-4 from the foul line over in an 11-second span to make it 70-63 with 1:02 left.
The Javelinas had a chance to cut the margin back to four but missed three.
The nail in the coffin came as the Rattlers grabbed the offensive rebound on the second of two missed foul shots to keep the possession alive.
The Javelinas finished 36.5% from the floor while St. Mary's hit 43.5%. Kingsville forced 23 turnovers as Cutri had four steals and both Mahone and Viera had three.
The Rattlers biggest advantage came on the glass as they out-rebounded the Javelinas 50-33. Morgan Pullins had 17 rebounds in the game to go with 18 points.
The Javelinas face off with McMurry at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the second game of the tournament.