SAN ANTONIO, Texas. – The Newman women's basketball team took care of business on the road Thursday evening (Feb. 14), defeating St. Mary's 80-71 on a night head coach Darin Spence notched his 100th career win at Newman. The Jets improved to 15-9 on the year and move into sole possession of second place in the Heartland Conference (6-4).
After lighting up the scoreboard on an opening possession three pointer, the Jets' offense would go scoreless over the next 3:19 as the Rattlers scored eight straight taking an 8-3 lead. Sophomore Haley Albers got the Newman offense back on track scoring 5 of the Jets 8 points during an 8-0 run just after the midway point of the opening quarter. Kaitlyn Potter dialed up Newman's third three pointer of the first quarter in the final seconds giving Newman their largest lead of the quarter 16-11, but the Rattlers answered with a layup just before the buzzer cutting the Newman lead to 16-13.
The Rattlers came out with tons of momentum in the second quarter scoring the first seven points taking a 20-16 lead during a 9-0 run going back to the final bucket of the opening quarter. A pair of three pointers from Braxtyn Stewart and Johnson gave Newman the lead back 26-24 with 2:11 to play in the half as the Rattlers went scoreless over a span of 5:40. Johnson knocked down her third triple of the half just seconds before the halftime buzzer capping a 13-3 Newman run, giving the Jets a 31-27 lead at the break.
The Rattlers stormed out of the halftime break with a 10-0 run in the early minutes of the third quarter gaining a 37-33 lead. Just before the midway point of the quarter, Albers and Potter connected on a pair of triples knotting the score up 39-39 with 5:55 to play. Just under 4 minutes to play in the third, Potter dialed up her second three pointer of the quarter sparking a Newman 14-2 run over the next 3:20 giving Newman a 56-47 lead with 42 seconds left. The Rattlers would cut the lead to seven 56-49 as the third quarter ended.
It appeared that the contest would come down to the final possessions as the Rattlers trimmed the Newman lead down to 58-56 with 6:20 to go until a 5-0 Potter run stretched the Jets lead to 63-56 just before the midway point of the quarter. The Jets' jumped out to their biggest lead of the game 70-58 on a 5-0 run sparked by Bria DeGate's lone three pointer of the game. Newman would put the game out of reach hitting 10 of their last 12 free throws in the final 1:16 sweeping the season series against the Rattlers 80-71.
For the second constitutive game the Jets finished with five individuals reaching double-digits in scoring. Kaitlyn Potter led the way for Newman with a strong second half scoring 15 of her games 18 points. Bria DeGrate finished with 15 points, Faith Mason-Vestal added in 13 points while pulling down seven rebounds. Dede Johnson and Haley Albers each added in 11 points.
The Jets will conclude their two game road trip in Laredo, Texas Saturday (Feb. 16) against the Dustdevils of Texas A&M International. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. inside the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building.
