DENTON, Texas (Nov. 21) – The TWU basketball team built a 28-point lead and then held off a late rally to knock off #25 St. Mary's 65-61 in the second game of the 2014 Marriott Champions Circle Pioneer Premiere.  With the win, the Pioneers improved to 2-1 on the season.
 
TWU senior guard Ashley Salazar recorded a career-high for the second consecutive game with a team-high 20 points.  Senior Ria Pateraki also scored in double-digits for the Pioneers with 10 points while fellow T-Dub senior Barbara-Scott Kolb added nine points, four assists and four steals.  Senior Toree Mason and sophomore Emily Spector were the top TWU rebounders with eight each.  Freshman Morgan Easley came off the Pioneers' bench to add eight points and four assists.
 
The Pioneers' defense held St. Mary's to just five field goals in the first half and 17.2 percent shooting.  TWU started the game on an 8-0 run and pushed the lead to 12 points, 26-14, with under five minutes to go in the first half.  The Pioneers closed out the half on an 11-0 run to take a 37-14 lead at the break. 
 
TWU pushed the lead to 28 points, 50-22, at 15:34 mark in the second half.  The Rattlers started to chip away and cut the deficit to nine points with 2:00 minutes left in the game.  Easley extended the TWU lead back to 13 with four straight free-throws but St. Mary's scored 10 straight points in a span of 26 seconds to make it a three-point game with five seconds left on the clock.  Salazar made one of two free throws to seal the win for the Pioneers.
 
"We came out strong and built a nice cushion at the half," said TWU head coach Beth Jillson.  "We were aggressive and got to the free throw line throughout the game.  Defensively we boxed out very well and out rebounded them.  We are a good free-throw shooting team but struggled a little at the line today.  St. Mary's is a very good team and they made the run at the end but we held on for a big regional win." 
 
TWU outrebounded the Rattlers, 43-41, and the Pioneers' bench outscored the St. Mary's bench, 15-3.  TWU also got to the free-throw line 33 times while make 20.
 
The Pioneers will return to action on the second day of the Pioneer Premiere when they take on Central Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 6:30 p.m.  St. Mary's will face Midwestern State at 4:00 p.m. in the first game of the day.