MORAGA, Calif. – The Gaels secured their fourth victory in a row on Saturday afternoon, following an 86-62 win against the Lions. The win was fueled by three-pointers and a strong performance from freshman Taycee Wedin.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• QUARTER 1 | Sydney Raggio got the scoring started for the Gaels on Saturday afternoon with the first layup of the game as the Saint Mary's defense kept the Lions scoreless until the fifth minute. Shortly before the first timeout, Emily Codding nailed the first Gael three-pointer of the day; the Gaels would go on to shoot 14 in the game. With 4:45 left in the first quarter, SMC was out-rebounding LMU nine to five as Raggio and Megan McKay accounted for three a piece at the time. The Lions went on an 8-0 run to regain the 8-7 lead with under two left to play in the quarter. However, in the final moments Wedin shot a three and a jumper to put Saint Mary's back on top 15-11.

 

• QUARTER 2 | Wedin nailed another three to begin the second quarter, followed by a monster chase-down block from Raggio to keep the momentum in the Gaels' hands and improve their lead to nine points. The Gaels carried a 19-0 run from the last two minutes of the first quarter into the seventh minute of the second before the Lions were able to make a three-pointer. With three minutes left to play, SMC led MLU 28-16 before Wedin nailed her third trey of the game and increased the Gaels lead to 15-points. Saint Mary's continued to shoot well from beyond the arc in the second period as Sam Simons hit her first three of the game followed by threes from Wedin and Madeline Holland to improve the Gaels' three-point percentage to 58 compared to LMU's 23. Saint Mary's ended the half with a 43-18 lead over the Lions as Wedin led the team with 14 points.

 

• QUARTER 3 | The two teams went point-for-point through the first few minutes of the second half, but the Gaels still held a 29-point lead over the Lions with just over six minutes left in the period. Saint Mary's also kept up the three point game with two more shots from Simons and Holland to improve their percentage to 60 while the Lions had still only made ten shots total all game. The Lions then went on an 8-0 run with a number of fastbreak layups that frustrated the Gaels defense, but Saint Mary's remained ahead of LMU 62-39. The teams then went back to trading buckets through the last three minutes of the match and the Gaels ended the period with a 67-43 lead over LMU.

 

• QUARTER 4 | Saint Mary's continued to control the game in the last period and held a 26-point lead over LMU with McKay collecting seven points in the first four minutes and shooting 5-for-5. With just under five minutes left to play, the Gaels were atop the Lions 81-53 and kept control of the momentum into the final minutes. Andee Velasco for LMU caused trouble for the Gaels in the fourth after collecting seven points in the first seven minutes of the final period and 15 total for the day. SMC shut the Lions down to close out the game with a 86-62 victory.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 17: Career and season-high points for freshman Wedin.
• 54: Shooting percentage for the Gaels compared to the Lions' 32.
• 14: Total number of threes for the Gaels, one shy of the team season-high.
• 18: The Lions field goal percentage in the first half after only completing six shots..
• 47: Rebounds for Saint Mary's, three short of their team season-high.
• 5: Number of double-doubles for senior Raggio this season (11 pts/11 rebs)

QUOTABLE

"Coming into today, we knew it was a game that was big for our rpi and the league so we were just very locked in," said Wedin. "I wanted to get the team going and started strong in general which I think we did. We had a good second quarter; they are a strong offensive rebounding team and I think we kept them away and we pushed in transition. We did a good job of finding open shooters as well as good talking and communicating."

"Today's overall performance was fueled by our second quarter," said Paul Thomas. "The team did a very good job of moving ball and making the extra pass, which is a sign of exceptional teamwork. I'm super proud of our weekend; I thought we were more consistent today and we are striving to play our best basketball late in the season."

COMING UP

The Gaels will face the Portland Pilots for the last time during the regular season on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Links to the live stats and the live stream can be found by clicking here, or visiting the Gaels' schedule page. Tickets to the game can be purchased by clicking here.