KERVILLE, Texas — Southwestern University Pirates women's basketball point guard Courtney Maass scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to secure a 61-57 victory over the Schreiner University Mountaineers on the road.
Maass finished with 16 points on 4-for-9 shooting and added five rebounds and three assists, leading a bench unit that outscored their Schreiner counterparts 36-23.
The Pirates have experimented with their lineups over the past few games, first moving Tori Carraway to the bench, then Maass. By staggering the minutes of Carraway and Cecily Woolfolk, two post players who operate from some of the same real estate on the court, Southwestern has found room to feature both.
Moving Maass to the bench has helped further balance out some of the Pirates' rotation over the past two games, keeping an offensive hub on the floor at all times.
Carraway has benefited greatly, scoring a team-high 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, grabbing eight rebounds with five coming on the offensive glass to help give the Pirates a 13-5 advantage in second-chance points.
Southwestern established an inside presence early, going to Woolfolk for seven first-quarter points on 3-for-4 shooting with Carraway coming off the bench to score five points, hitting both of her shots and a free throw in the quarter. Schreiner found some footing with the energy of reserves Miranda Vallejo and Yasmine Arogunjo, who combined for eight points off the bench as the Pirates took a 14-12 lead.
Both teams made six field goals in the second quarter with Schreiner getting two 3-pointers and the Pirates making three free throws to take a 29-26 lead at the half.
The Pirates had a dreadful third quarter offensively, hitting just 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) from the field as a team to get outscored 14-9 in the quarter and trail 40-38 heading into the fourth.
Maass tied the game at 42-42 on a 3-pointer with 7:39 remaining and later extended a lead with another jumper before closing out the game with seven free throws to preserve the victory.
Woolfolk and Pratts each scored eight points with Woolfolk leading the team in rebounds wth 11 and Pratts contributing on the defensive end with two blocks and two steals. Kelsey Faykus and seven points and six rebounds in 16 minutes.
Schreiner had three players in double figures, led by Josline Hernandez and Arogunjo, who each scored 15, with Kendall Dyal scoring 11 points.
With the win, the Pirates improve to 9-12 and 8-4 in conference play while Schreiner drops to 4-18 and 4-9. The Pirates will travel to San Antonio this weekend to play Trinity at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9.