Facing off against cross-town rival St. Mary's University at the McDermott Center on Saturday, the Incarnate Word women's team knew that a win would not only extend the team's winning streak, but would also keep the Cardinals undefeated, and in first place, in Heartland Conference play.
A loss would drop the Cardinals into a tie with the Rattlers for first in the conference, and UIW out-played and out-hustled STMU in the first half for a 26-18 lead… but in the second half, the Rattlers took over and defeated UIW, 48-38.
“I thought we played a really good first half, defensively in particular,” Cardinals coach Angela Lawson said. “In the second half, I thought St. Mary's came out with more intensity and dictated what we tried to do offensively with their defense and we didn't handle it.
“I want to give St. Mary's a lot of credit for their defense. They took us out of everything we wanted to run. We didn't handle their pressure. When people pressure us, there are times we're not very poised, and this was one of those times.”
The contest was the final regular season contest at the McDermott Center between the two schools, as Incarnate Word will be joining the Lone Star Conference next season. Now, the Cardinals (11-6, 6-1) will have to hope to repay the favor when UIW heads to STMU (13-5, 6-1) on February 20th.
Senior Nia Torru was the lone Cardinal to score in double digits with an 11 point, seven rebound performance. She is now 59 points shy of tying the UIW scoring record with Amy Mueller.
St. Mary's outscored UIW 30-12 in the second half, taking the lead, 36-35 with just under 11 minutes left to play – which means the Cardinals scored three points in the final 10-plus minutes of the contest.
Coach Lawson was able to find a positive to talk about after the game, however, pointing out that Brittney Bennett and LaShae Woodard both played very well off the bench down in the paint for UIW.
Bennett grabbed two rebounds and had four points while Woodard grabbed four rebounds and scored three points. Woodard also had two assists and a steal.
The Cardinals will next play Arkansas-Fort Smith at the McDermott Center on January 23rd at 2 p.m. Fort Smith is a new member to the Heartland Conference and while the game's result will count towards UIW's overall record, there is no change to the conference record.
