St. Edward’s University women’s basketball faced off against the No. 7-ranked The University of Texas at Tyler’s Patriots in a tight game that saw the Patriots inch a 65-54 win. In their last three games the Hilltoppers won a 60-43 game against Texas A&M International University and played two close games against Texas Woman’s University and Texas A&M University–Kingsville that resulted in losses. UT Tyler has won their last three games and has just come off their 20th game win of the season.
“We’ve just got to make sure we’re disciplined and fight to get great shots,” head coach J.J. Riehl said. “You know, everybody’s searching for wins, so I don’t expect that anything is easy. “It just goes back to discipline – being more disciplined and convicted in what we’re doing.”
The Hilltoppers got off to a slow start allowing the Patriots to gain a 7-0 lead before Ainsley Thunnel opened up the score for the Hilltoppers with two points inside the paint. Ramsey Robledo started to heat the game up for the Hilltoppers making two of her free throw attempts, and scoring a three pointer before assisting Bailey Featherstone for a layup to level the game. The Hilltoppers ended the first half of the game strong, leading 31-28, but would eventually fade off as the Patriots rallied a six point lead before the Hilltoppers could respond.
Keeping the St. Edward’s offense alive was JP Perkins, ending the game with 14 points, five assists and six rebounds. The Patriots found their range early going 6-for-15 from the three point line in the first half and continued to find space in the second half. Their top scorers, Polina Latysheva had the most three point attempts going 4-for-7, and Ella Bradley who went 2-for-2 late in the second half to keep the Patriots lead to end the game.
“I think we did a lot of really good stuff this week,” Riehl said. “We played the number two and the number seven ranked team in the country, and I think there are a lot of positives.”
St. Edward’s University women’s basketball currently sits at 11th seed in the Lone Star Conference with a 6-10 record and 10-15 Overall. They will face off once again against Cameron University, who currently sits at 15th in conference with a 1-16 record, on Thursday, at 5:30 p.m.
