SAN ANTONIO — A hot-shooting first half by the opponent would prove too much to overcome for the Newman women's basketball team, which charged back in the second half but couldn't catch up to St. Mary's in a 67-59 loss in Heartland Conference action Saturday afternoon.

KEY SEQUENCE

Up by just two at the first media timeout, the Rattlers (13-6, 7-4 Heartland) buried a 3-pointer on the next possession to go up by five on the Jets (9-10, 3-8 Heartland), and after a pair of misses, made each of their next six shots through the first basket of the second quarter to move out to a 26-8 lead.

HOW IT HAPPENED

-Shaunice Robinson and Erica Olerich each sank a layup after the Rattlers opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, which gave the Jets a 4-3 lead. When Melanie George hit a jumper off a feed from Bria DeGrate with 6:34 left in the opening quarter, she tied things up at 6-6.

-The Rattlers, who were hot the entire first quarter, kept that going from that point, going on an 18-2 run the rest of the quarter, hitting 7-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc during that stretch to open the lead to 24-8.

-The Jets would bounce out quickly in the second quarter though. After a St. Mary's bucket stretched the lead to 18, DeGrate went for seven straight points on her own and Robinson laid one in to complete a 9-0 run that cut the lead to 26-17 at the 7:06 mark.

-Baskets from Natalia Hausmann and Olerich made it a nine-point deficit again each time the hosts tried to halt the momentum, the last coming from Olerich to make it 30-21 with 3:39 left in the half. The Rattlers would find their groove from deep once again though, hitting a pair of treys to stretch the lead to 36-21 at the break.

-Newman came out strong to start a period once again in the third, getting three straight baskets from DeGrate, Lizzy Harrison and Cierra Tjaden to slice the deficit to 36-25 with 7:15 on the clock. A free throw from Robinson and another layup from Tjaden made it a 10-point game each time.

-A Brianna Caldwell 3-pointer cut the deficit to single digits once again at 42-33 and started an 8-3 run for the Jets. That burst was capped by Robinson, who scored the final five points of the quarter on a 3-pointer and two free throws to make it 45-38 heading into the final quarter.

-DeGrate cut a brief cold snap for Newman with a 3-pointer at the 6:13 mark of the fourth after St. Mary's had scored the first six points of the final period. DeGrate hit a free throw followed 11 seconds later by a trey from Tjaden to make it an eight-poing game at 53-45 with just over five minutes to play.

-A four-point burst would put the Rattlers up 14 as the clock ticked under three minutes to play, although a bucket from Hausmann and a Caldwell 3-pointer followed on the next possession by a free throw made it 64-55 with 40 seconds to play.

NOTES

-DeGrate, a freshman, set a new career high with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and added five rebounds. In two games against the Rattlers this year, shes averaged 20 minutes, shot 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from the field, 3-of-5 (60 percent) from beyond the arc, 3-of-4 (75 percent) from the line and turned the ball over just once.

-Tjaden matched a season high with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and equaled a career high by pulling down eight rebounds. The junior also added two assists and two steals while playing 28 minutes off the bench.

-Robinson netted 10 points and four rebounds, while Olerich went for four points and a team-high nine rebounds to go with two steals and Hausmann recorded six points, four boards, three assists and a block.

-The Jets pulled in 17 offensive rebounds — helping to 13 second-chance points — and 40 overall compared to St. Mary's 29. It was the second straight game Newman has held a double-digit rebounding margin.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Jets return home Thursday to face off against Oklahoma Panhandle State in a 5:30 p.m. tipoff at Fugate Gymnasium.