MORAGA, Calif. – Sam Simons and the Gaels showed their love for the three-pointer on Valentines Day as they took the 81-68 victory over Santa Clara.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• QUARTER 1 | Megan McKay got the scoring started for the Gaels on Thursday night after a hard fought layup, followed shortly by a three from Sam Simons in her sixth start of the season. After three minutes of play, the Gaels had only allowed two points from their opponents and held a steady 8-2 lead. With five minutes gone, the Gaels were shooting 62 percent compared to the Broncos 12 percent. Simons nailed her third three of the first period just after the media timeout and increased the lead to 16-7 before hitting her fourth trey just moments later. Simons ended the quarter with 15 points while shooting a perfect 5-for-5, all from deep. As a squad, Saint Mary's shot 6-for-8 from beyond the arc in the initial quarter while Santa Clara shot just 1-for-6. The two teams went into the second with the Gaels on top 26-12

 

• QUARTER 2 | Saint Mary's continued to control the momentum as the team went on an 8-2 run to start the second period. Simons made her first layup of the game and increased her total to 17 points, while McKay stepped up big in the paint and had recorded 10 points with four minutes left in the first half. SMC kept the lead over the Broncos for the entire second period and only allowed their opponent to convert on eight drives. Emily Codding and Carly Turner also hit threes during the second period to improve the Gaels' outside shooting to 57 percent compared to Santa Clara's 35 percent. Saint Mary's went into the half with a 50-32 advantage over the Broncos and Simons accounted for 19 of those points.

 

• QUARTER 3 | The Broncos came out and scored the first five points of the second half before McKay grinded for a layup and improved the score to 52-37. McKay collected six points in the first four minutes of the second half and improved her total to 16 points with four rebounds. SMC kept a double-digit lead over Santa Clara for the whole half and at the media timeout, the Gaels held a 16-point lead over the Broncos while still outshooting their opponents 60 percent to 40. The Broncos went on a 7-0 run during the last few minutes, but Saint Mary's remained in the lead and responded with a 7-0 run of their own to finish the quarter with a 70-52 lead.

 

• QUARTER 4 | Santa Clara got the scoring started and converted on their initial three drives of the final quarter to bring the lead within 11 points. The Broncos kept the Gaels scoreless for the first four minutes of the period before Sydney Raggio landed a layup and regained the control for Saint Mary's. With 3:51 to go, the score was 74-66 in favor of SMC over Santa Clara. Shortly after, Simons nailed her sixth three of the game and brought her total for the night to 28 points, shattering her previous season-high of 21 that she recorded on December 21 against Texas State. The Gaels went on to win the game 81-68 over the Santa Clara Broncos.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 28: Points for Simons, breaking her previous season high of 21 (Dec. 12 vs. Texas State). Her total was one point shy of the season-high for any Gael in the 2018-19 season (29 pts - McKay).
• 5: Total blocks for Saint Mary's, one block shy of their season-high.
• 52.5: Shooting percentage for the Gaels compared to Santa Clara's 42 percent.
• 10: Season-high assists for Jasmine Forcadilla (Previous record was 5 versus San Diego).
• 0:00: Time the Gaels spent trailing on Thursday night.

QUOTABLE

"My mindset today was to come out aggressively," said Sam Simons. "In the last three minutes we were able to stop their point guard and big which contributed to our win in the end. We love to win and we have to keep playing hard and playing good basketball in these final games."

"We were in a really good rhythm first half with Sam leading the group," said head coach Paul Thomas. "I was also really happy with our defensive effort in the first quarter as well as our ability to 'turn it on' late in the game."

COMING UP

Saint Mary's will remain at home for their next matchup against San Francisco on February 16 at 1 p.m. before hitting the road next week.