MORAGA, Calif. –  Saint Mary's played a hard fought battle against BYU on Saturday afternoon and brought the game within one point in the final seconds, but unfortunately fell 74-73.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• QUARTER 1 |  The Gaels pulled out to a quick four-point lead over BYU on Saturday afternoon before spending the next couple minutes of the quarter going point-for-point. Following a couple of misses, the Saint Mary's offense got fired up and scored three three-pointers in a row from Sydney Raggio, Megan McKay, and Sam Simons to bring the score to 17-14 in favor of the Gaels at the first media timeout. The Cougars took advantage of a 6-2 run in the last three minutes of the quarter, however a buzzer-beater three from Carly Turner sent the two teams into the second quarter tied at 20-20.

 

• QUARTER 2 | Saint Mary's continued to shoot well from the outside as Madeline Holland scored another three for the Gaels just after the break. The Cougars continued to produce offensively as well and kept the Gaels within one to two points through most of the second quarter. In the first half, Saint Mary's shot 45 percent from the field while BYU shot 44 percent. The Cougars went on a 13-4 run during the latter half of the quarter and took a 35-29 lead over SMC with 3:43 left to play in the half. The teams traded buckets in the final moments as Holland nailed another three after a long pass from Jasmine Forcadilla and the half ended 39-38 with the Cougs on top.

 

• QUARTER 3 | The third quarter started with more accuracy from the three-point line after a pair of treys from Simons brought the Gaels out to a six-point lead over the Cougars. BYU then went on a 12-0 run including a number of successful threes of their own from Brenna Chase and regained the 55-49 lead over the Gaels. The Cougars remained in control of the momentum as SMC struggled to convert on their buckets and time expired with BYU atop the Gaels 65-56.

 

• QUARTER 4 | BYU scored the first points back after the break and increased their lead to 13 points over Saint Mary's. The Gaels fought hard through the quarter but struggled to shut down Paisley Johnson, the Cougars top producer of the game, who ended the day with 25 points and shot 9-for-13. With five minutes left in the game, SMC and BYU went back-and-forth before the Gaels nailed another pair of threes from Forcadilla and Simons to bring the score to 74-71 with Saint Mary's just behind BYU. Just under two minutes to go in the quarter, the Gaels defense came together and halted the Cougars momentum in order to bring the game within one point. Saint Mary's played tough in the final seconds but the Cougars eventually took the 74-73 win.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
 

• 73: Most points scored by the Gaels against BYU since 2015.
• 16: Third-most points this season by Megan McKay.
• 50: Three-point shooting percentage for the Gaels.
• 48: Saint Mary's shooting percentage.
• 2: Season-high in threes for Carly Turner.

COMING UP

The Gaels will travel over the bridge to play San Francisco for their next game on Thursday at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here or by calling the ticket office at 925-631-4689.