SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In the midst of a busy stretch to begin West Coast Conference play, Saint Mary's Women's Basketball headed towards the South Bay to take on Santa Clara University. In another installment of this rivalry, the Gaels not only had to deal with the Broncos, but also playing the second of four WCC games in eight days. While the offense was up to the task, the defense was a bit sluggish, and that led to a thrilling contest inside the Leavey Center. The Gaels prevailed in the slugfest, beating the Broncos 95-87 to improve to 7-6 (2-0) while the Broncos fall to 7-6 (1-1)
 
OFF TO THE RACES
It is tough to start better offensively than how the Gaels did in the first quarter. Of the first 15 shots the Gaels took, 11 went in, as Saint Mary's was exploiting the Broncos in the paint with quick cuts, and threes from Sam Simons. The first two buckets of the game were triples from Simons, who knocked them down at the top of the arc. The overall numbers in the first quarter saw the Gaels shoot 61% from the field and 5-8 from distance, with 27 points put on the board.
 
"We did a very good job of moving the ball," head coach Paul Thomas noted after the win. "We did a great job of sharing the ball and I think we are a pretty good offensive team when we do that."
 
EIGHT IS GREAT
Only eight players saw minutes in Monday night's game, but that didn't seem to hinder the offensive performance one bit. 47 points were scored in the first half for the Gaels, their best mark of the season, eclipsing 41 points, which they had already achieved twice on the season. The final totals were impressive for the Gaels, scoring a season-high 95 points on 54.2% shooting. Individual performances were stellar as well, with both Madeline Holland and Emily Codding putting up career-bests in points, with 33 and 28, respectively.
 
THE FINAL MINUTES
The Broncos came out of the fourth quarter media with a slim 81-80 lead, but the Gaels reclaimed the edge with 3:30 remaining on a pair of free throws from Holland. What became clear for the Gaels was that they needed both Holland and Codding to carry the load in the final stanza. Of the 27 points scored in the quarter for the Gaels, they all came from those two players. A few of the biggest defensive stops of the night helped propel the Gaels in the final minutes, and some good free throw shooting locked down the victory.
 
"We tweaked a little bit of what we were doing and got them off their rhythm a bit and I was pleased with how we did it," coach Thomas added.
 
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
In a bit of a statistical oddity, the Gaels were not called for many fouls on Monday night, with just six to their name, while the Broncos picked up 13…this was the sixth game this season in which the Gaels knocked down at least 10 three-pointers…the five turnovers forced against the Broncos were the fewest this season…the Gaels scored their most points in a game since they put up 113 against Portland on January 31 of last season.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's opens up the new year with their first WCC home game of the 2019-20 season on Thursday, January 2 against Pepperdine University. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 pm and kicks off a weekend of women's basketball inside University Credit Union Pavilion as the Gaels host LMU on Saturday, January 4.
 
#GaelsRise – For ticket information to all home basketball games, call the SMC Ticket Office today at 925-631-4689 or click the ticket link here to purchase your seats now.