SAN ANTONIO  Western Colorado had rallied from a second-quarter eight-point deficit to take an eight-point lead with 7:40 to play in the game, but host St. Mary's University rallied over the final minutes to steal a one-point, 66-65, non-conference win Saturday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: St. Mary's def. Western, 66-65
Records: Western 1-1, St. Mary's 3-0
Location: Bill Greehey Arena, San Antonio, Texas

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Rattlers has staked claim to the momentum at the end of the first and beginning of the second quarters, stretching their advantage to 22-14 with the opening basket of the second quarter.
• By halftime, the lead had been cut to five, 33-28, a margin that became seven with StMU's first bucket in the third.
• But an Ivey Schmidt 3-pointer ate into the deficit, followed by a defensive rebound at one end by Penelope Urquhart and a layup at the other end by Urquhart.
• St. Mary's widened the gap with a pair of free throws, but the next possession Urquhart drained a 3-pointer to pull Western within one, at 37-36.
• Urquhart came up with another defensive rebound off a Rattler miss and this time dished off to Chloe Daniels for a lead-grabbing layup, 38-37.
• The Mountaineers led by six, 52-46, at the end of the third, by nine (55-46) early in the fourth on an Alyssa Eckroth layup-and-one, and then by eight, 57-49, at the 7:40 mark of the fourth after Eckroth dropped in a pair of free throws.
• Points became hard to come by for Western down the stretch, though, and the Rattlers would close out the game on a 17-8 run to rally back for the one-point victory.

COURT NOTES

• Schmidt's 18 points and 16 from Eckroth led Western's offense on the night. Schmidt added a game-high 10 rebounds to complete the double-double in the loss.
• Western most often cruises to a rebounding advantage against opponents, but despite Schmidt's game-high total, the Mountaineers were outrebounded 38-33 by the Rattlers.
• That rebounding advantage helped StMU score 13 second-chance points in the game, while Western scored just 3.
• Both teams had similar shooting days, Western finishing at 41.5 percent from the floor with the Rattler's ending the day shooting 39%.

UP NEXT

• The Mountaineers continue their stay in Texas, moving on to the Thanksgiving Tournament in Austin, Texas, hosted by St. Edward's University.
• Western opens the tournament Monday against Texas A&M International before taking on the host Hilltoppers on Tuesday.