Final Stats

STOCKTON, Calif. -- Sydney Raggio put a thrilling final touch on a dominating second half with just 1.7 seconds left Thursday, grabbing an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and laying it back in to give the Saint Mary's women's basketball team a 70-69 lead that would hold, beating Pacific on the road in the final seconds of a West Coast Conference matchup at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Raggio took over in the second half, and she both opened and closed the fourth quarter with statement plays. The junior scored 17 of her 20 points, grabbed seven of her nine rebounds, and dished three of her four assists after halftime. Her three-point play just 10 seconds into the final period put the Gaels' (9-5, 2-1 WCC) lead at six, 51-45. And her offensive rebound and put-back on Megan McKay's free-throw miss with just 1.7 seconds left sealed the game.
  
  
• Raggio nearly had the game-winning shot seconds earlier. The Gaels were trailing 69-68 after Pacific's (6-8, 0-3 WCC) Ameela Li completed her own three-point play with 22 seconds left in the game. Saint Mary's inbounded with 9.2 seconds to play and Raggio drove the lane on the right side, but her running layup missed to the opposite side of the rim, where McKay grabbed the offensive board and was fouled trying to go back up.
  
  
• That sent McKay to the free-throw line for the potential game-tying and go-ahead free throws. But she missed both shots, leaving the Gaels still trailing by one. But the last miss landed in Raggio's hands for the go-ahead put-back.
  
  
• Saint Mary's led by as many as six 2 1/2 minutes into the fourth quarter, but Pacific erased that deficit with a 6-0 run. The Gaels went ahead again by five with just over three minutes to play after a Jasmine Forcadilla 3-pointer, but again five straight points from the Tigers tied it at 55-55. After that, SMC took two more leads with buckets, but Pacific answered each of them, including tacking on an and-one to the last field goal for a 69-68 lead, their first advantage since 53 seconds into the third quarter.
  
  
• Pacific led the entire first quarter, going ahead by as much as seven at 16-9. But the Gaels finished the first and started the second quarters on a 16-1 run, including an 11-0 stretch that gave them their biggest lead of the half at 25-17. The Gaels shot 58.3 percent in the second quarter while forcing the Tigers to miss their first eight shots of the period.

• 7: Thursday's game featured seven ties, five of which occurred in the fourth quarter. Three of those were within the final two minutes of the contest.
• 17: The Gaels committed just 17 turnovers Thursday, snapping a streak of three straight games in which they had at least 20 giveaways. They are 7-1 this season when keeping their turnover number below 20.
• 20: Raggio's 20 points scored marked her second 20-point game of the season and fifth of her career. Saint Mary's is 5-0 all-time when Raggio scores at least 20 points.
• 50.9: Saint Mary's shot 50.9 percent in the game. It was the seventh time this season it has shot better than 50 percent in a game, moving its record to 5-2 in those games.

• Saint Mary's travels to San Diego for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday. The Toreros were 59-52 winners over Portland on Thursday to move to 2-1 in WCC play. Fans can find all live coverage links on SMCGaels.com.