WBB | Gaels Hit the Court For Full Practice

Photo by: Stephen Ellis

WBB | Gaels Hit the Court For Full Practice

10/3/2018 6:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

MORAGA, Calif. - The 2018-19 Saint Mary's women's basketball season is officially underway as the Gaels took to the court for their first fully-fledged practices this week.

"The energy was really great at our first official practice," said head coach Paul Thomas.

SMC heads into the 2018-19 season after placing second in the West Coast Conference standings and amassing over 20 wins for the seventh-consecutive season.

"Our goal for the year remains the same," said Thomas. "We would like to win the West Coast Conference, Conference Tournament, and receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament."

The Gaels will look to achieve that goal with the help of 12 returners including five seniors: Carly Turner, Morgan Malloy, Sydney Raggio, Katie Rathbun, and Megan McKay.

McKay is coming off of a career season where she was named to the All-West Coast Conference First Team. She led the conference in field goal percentage (.608) while also finishing among the top-10 in scoring (sixth, 15.3 points per game) and rebounding (ninth, 7.3 per game). The 6'3 forward was twice given the WCC Player of the Week award and also received Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week honors two times last season.

"Being a senior, I want to be able to lead our team to becoming WCC Champions," said McKay. "I want to be able to step out on the court and help everyone achieve their best performance. We have a lot of experienced seniors on this team, so we will all be there to support each other and get the team going in the right direction."

Fellow senior Raggio will be another cornerstone for the Gaels this season. As a junior, she claimed a spot on the All-WCC Second Team after starting all 31 games and finishing among the conference's top-10 in four categories: rebounding (third, 9.0 per game), total blocks (third, 37), field goal percentage (fourth, .532), and scoring (ninth, 14.0 points per game). The San Bruno, Calif. native was also twice named the Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week.

SMC will also look for production from two newcomers and a redshirt freshman who will see their first collegiate action in 2018-19: Taycee Wedin, Sam Simons, and Milly Yates. Wedin joins the Gaels as the reigning 5A Oregon State Player of the Year. She was a 4-year letter winner at La Salle Prep who she led to four-straight Northwest Oregon Conference Championships. Yates spent the last year redshirting with SMC and came to Saint Mary's as a 5-time selectee to the New South Wales Metro State Team that competed in the Australia Junior Championships. She was also selected as the co-captain for the U-18 squad in 2016 amongst numerous other accolades. Simons joins the Gaels with a copious amount of international competition under her belt including winning a gold medal in the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championships in Spain. Later this month, she will be heading to India with Basketball Australia to compete for the Gems Squad in the 2018 FIBA U18 Asian Championships.

"Everyone has been very welcoming," said Simons. "The atmosphere here is pretty incredible. I've never been a part of a group that is as united as we are."

Saint Mary's will begin the season at home with their first contest coming on November 7 at 6:30 p.m.

#GaelsRise – For ticket information to all home women's basketball matches, call the SMC Ticket Office today at 925-631-4689 or click the ticket link here to purchase your seats now.