Jan. 31, 2008

Box Score

Spokane, WA - The Saint Mary's women's basketball was unable to upset undefeated Gonzaga Thursday night, falling to the Bulldogs 74-50. With the loss the Gaels fall to 2-4 in West Coast Conference play, while Gonzaga improves to a perfect 6-0. The Gaels were led by freshman forward Louella Tomlinson with 11 points, while junior guard Jontelle Smith chipped in 10.

In front of 1.504 fans at the McCarthey Athletic Center, sophomore Heather Bowman led all scorers with a game-high 21 points. Bowman was 8-of-13 from the field, while also chipping in six rebounds.

Saint Mary's stuck with the Bulldogs throughout the first half, pulling to within six points, 20-14, off a 5-0 run led by Lauren Shaughnessy at the 10:14 mark. But by the half Gonzaga had extended their advantage to 12, 33-21.

At half time the Gaels were shooting an impressive 45 percent from the floor to the Bulldog's 35.1 percent, but were held to 20 attempts to Gonzaga's 37 attempts. Saint Mary's was out rebounded by 10 in the first half, as the Gaels did not record an offensive rebound in the first half.

Gonzaga started the second half on a mission, as they went on a 15-6 run in the first seven minutes. With the run the Bulldogs extended their lead to 23 and would never relinquish the double-digit advantage.

The Gaels Achilles' heal for the night was unforced errors, Saint Mary's gave-up 29 turnovers to Gonzaga. The Bulldogs were able to capitalize of the Gaels errors throughout the game, scoring 32 points of turnovers to Saint Mary's 13.

Senior guard Lauren Shaughnessy picked up one steal in the ball game, pushing her career total to 200 steals. Shaughnessy is only the second player in Gael history to reach the 200 steal mark.

Saint Mary's will look to close out the first round of WCC action with a win on Saturday afternoon, as they face Portland on Saturday, March 2 at 1:00 pm in the Chiles Center.