Moraga, Calif. -  The Gaels opened the Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic with a nail-biting victory over Milwaukee as the Panthers tied the contest at 71 points apiece with 14 seconds to play. However, final-second heroics from senior Sydney Raggio lifted SMC over UWM 73-71.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• QUARTER 1 | The Gaels got off to a quick start and led by 10 (14-4) with 5:28 remaining in the quarter. The Panthers scored the next seven points to cut the deficit to three, but a pair of treys by freshman Sam Simons and a jumper by sophomore Madeline Holland gave the Gaels an 11-point advantage. Freshman Taycee Wedin then knocked down a triple of her own to build SMC's advantage to 14 (25-11), their biggest lead of the game. Milwaukee scored the final points of the quarter on a layup and the Gaels exited the period with a 25-13 lead.

 

• QUARTER 2 | Defense from both sides was put on display to open the second quarter as only four points were scored in the first five minutes. Saint Mary's continued to utilize the 3-ball as junior Tyra Moe scored the eighth 3-pointer of the game for the Gaels with their first score of the second quarter. Now with a 9-point lead (28-19), SMC continued to keep their advantage in the double digits as they entered halftime with a 12-point, 34-22 advantage.

 

• QUARTER 3 | The home side scored four points in the opening two minutes of the quarter thanks to layups from sophomore Emily Codding and senior Megan McKay. The Gaels maintained an 11-point lead until UWM went on a 9-2 run from 6:23 to 2:42, cutting SMC's edge to two points. Back-to-back buckets from Codding and Raggio helped them regain a 6-point advantage. Then, a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Codding gave Saint Mary's a 54-46 lead heading into the game's final 10 minutes.

 

• QUARTER 4 | Both sides went back-and-forth to open the fourth, but the Gaels held a 9-point lead with 3:19 to play (67-58). Then, Milwaukee caught fire, going on a 9-2 run to pull within one point at the 1:12 mark. Raggio responded with a layup with 20 second to play to stretch the lead to three (71-68), but the Panthers' Jamie Reit knocked down a triple 6 seconds later to the tie the contest at 71-71 with 14 seconds on the clock. Now with the ball and what looked to be the final possession, Raggio delivered a game-winning layup right in front SMC's bench thanks to a perfect feed from Holland with just 1.5 seconds remaining. Milwaukee immediately took a timeout which allowed them to advance the ball. However, after a pair of home timeouts hoping to freeze their opponent, the Panthers missed a contested layup in the paint, giving Saint Mary's the 73-71 victory.
  
  NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 15/9: Season-highs for McKay in points/rebounds
• 39:01: amount of time Saint Mary's spent in the lead
• 4: No. of Gaels who scored double-digit points
• 1.000: Percentage of free throws made by SMC (12-for-12).
• 6: No. of Gael blocks (a season-high).
• 11: No. 3 SMC 3-pointers (a season-best).

 
COMING UP

• the Gaels will play their final game of the Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic when they take on No. 3 Oregon on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.