SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State women's basketball opened the season with a dominating 70-46 win over St. Mary's on Tuesday night at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center.
The Belles (1-0) earned Renae Shippy her first career victory by scoring 25 points off 18 Rattler (2-4) turnovers. ASU dominated in the paint by a margin of 28-14 and drained eight 3-pointers. St. Mary's was limited to just 35.4-percent from the field while the Belles hit 47.1-percent from the field and 57.1 from three. Shippy is the seventh coach in school history to win her ASU debut.
"It was an exciting game," Shippy said after the win. "The entire team including myself had our adrenaline running because it was our first time on the court. Once we settled in we were able to do what we needed to do. I thought we executed well and it was fun to see them produce the way I know they can."
A total of four Belles scored as De'Anira Moore led all scorers with 14 points. The sophomore was close to a double-double with nine rebounds and she added four assists as well. Dezirae Hampton scored 13 points with nine points coming from behind the arc. Madi Greenwood and Marquita Daniels added 12 and 10, respectively. Every player scored for Angelo State.
The Belles playing in their season opener, started slow offensively and found themselves down 11-4 halfway through the first quarter. Hampton hit an early jumper to cut St. Mary's lead to five. Mikayla Blount followed it with a jumper before Kelly tied up the game after being fouled on a 3-pointer. The senior sank all three to tie the game at 11. After scoring the first two buckets, Moore hit the final bucket to give ASU its first lead at 13-11 at the end of the first quarter.
St. Mary's regained the lead on the first shot of the second quarter but it would be the last time the Rattlers would lead. ASU went on a 12-5 run over the next nine minutes to build a 31-19 advantage sparked by Hampton's 11 points in the quarter. The junior scored eight straight points highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers. Greenwood and Kynese Davis capped off the run with consecutive threes. Hampton hit her third 3-pointer of the quarter to close out the half as ASU went up 34-22.
ASU kept the pressure on St. Mary's forcing 12 second half turnovers. A 14-0 run to start the third quarter put the game away. Greenwood hit a pair of free throws followed by a 3-pointer from Daniels. Moore and Blount found ways to score before Daniels capped off the run with a fast break layup off a steal to put the Belles on top 48-25. The two teams battled over the last four minutes of the quarter with Angelo State up 59-34 going into the last quarter of play.
Greenwood hit her second 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter as ASU built its largest lead of 29 at 63-34 on a Moore free throw moments later. St. Mary's would trim the deficit to 24 by the end of the quarter before the final of 70-46.
The Belles will return to the court for the Thanksgiving Classic at Stephens Arena at the Junell Center on Friday, Nov. 24 at 3:30 p.m. against Fort Lewis and again on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 3:30 p.m. against Oklahoma Christian.
