Game #17
Saint Mary's Gaels (9-7, 2-3 WCC) vs. San Francisco Dons (5-11, 1-4 WCC)
Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. PT
San Francisco, Calif. — War Memorial Gym
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Game #18
Saint Mary's Gaels (9-7, 2-3 WCC) vs. Santa Clara Broncos (9-7, 2-3 WCC)
Saturday, January 19, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. PT
Santa Clara, Calif. — Leavey Center
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MORAGA, Calif. — The Gaels hit the road this week to take on conference opponents San Francisco and Santa Clara after two strong performances last week.

SCOUTING REPORT
Saint Mary's have a record of 9-7 going into this week and are ranked 55th in the RPI poll behind BYU (28) and Gonzaga (10). The Gaels are ranked second in the conference in scoring offense behind Portland with an average of 74.4 points per game, and are ranked 13th in the nation and first in the conference in field goal percentage (47.5). Saint Mary's also has six players on the top-15 list for field goal percentage in the conference.

The Gaels had a strong week last week after a solid win over San Diego and a near-win against No.28 BYU. Saint Mary's held San Diego to just 60 points, which is the third lowest score by an opponent this season and the lowest opponent score since December 1 against Cal Poly. Megan McKay had another strong outing on Thursday as she recorded a season-high 14 rebounds during the game. The Gaels also shot 51.4 percent in the latter half of the game that contributed to a strong third and fourth quarter and secured the 74-60 win for SMC.

Saturday's match against BYU was the Gael's closest contest this season in which Saint Mary's put up the most points against the Cougars since 2015. McKay scored her third-highest point total this season (16) and shot 60 percent for the game, while Sam Simons recorded 16 points with two steals, one block, and five rebounds. Jasmine Forcadilla also came up big in the game against the Cougars and collected 15 points while shooting 7-for-13.

SAN FRANCISCO
The Dons have had a tough go-of-it this season with a record of 5-11 and a conference record of 1-4. San Francisco is on a four-game losing streak having dropped their last four conference matches to BYU, Santa Clara, LMU and Pepperdine. Even though the Dons have struggled, the team is ranked second in the conference in field goal percentage (.449) behind the Gaels.

Shannon Powell leads USF in a number of different categories and has made her way into the WCC rankings as well. She is ranked fifth in the conference in scoring with an average of 16 points per game and a shooting percentage of .485. Powell also leads her team in rebounds (6.0 per game), assists (4.4 per game), and steals (2.1 per game). Via Vaalavitra is first on the team in three-point shooting percentage (.324) which is ranked 14th in the conference, while Powell holds second place on the team (.296).

SANTA CLARA
Santa Clara currently holds a 9-7 record this season with a record of 2-3 in the WCC. The Broncos are coming off of a 83-75 win over Loyola Marymount last weekend and will face off against Pacific on Thursday ahead of their match against Saint Mary's on Saturday. Santa Clara's defense has played a huge role in their season and the team is ranked third in the conference in scoring defense (61.9 points per game).

Tia Hay holds the top spot for shooting percentage (43.5) and points per game (15.5), as well as leads her team in assists (2.9 per game) and steals (2.3 per game). Hay is ranked seventh in the conference in scoring and fifth in the conference in steals. Ashlyn Herlihy has been important to the Broncos as she has started every game this season and is averaging 9.7 points per game.

#GaelsRise

For ticket information to all home women's basketball games, call the SMC ticket office today at 925-631-4689 or click the link here to purchase your seats now.