WBB | Gaels Complete Fourth Quarter Comeback to Defeat BYU in Provo

Thursday, February 7

Provo, Utah

11 a.m. MT

Saint Mary's College of California

14-7, 8-4

BYU

17-5, 9-3

Saint Mary's (CA)

BYU

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

WBB | Gaels Complete Fourth Quarter Comeback to Defeat BYU in Provo

2/7/2019 1:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PROVO, Utah – Saint Mary's saved their biggest quarter for their last, outscoring BYU by 10 points in the final period to complete the comeback victory. With the win, SMC avenged their 1-point loss earlier this year at home to the Cougars.

HOW IT HAPPENED

QUARTER 1 | The Gaels opened the game with four unanswered points and maintained their lead (8-4) with seven minutes remaining. SMC stretched their advantage to 13-4 when senior Carly Turner hit the Gaels' first 3-pointer of the game. Another triple from Turner gave SMC their first 10-point lead of the game when she hit a deep three with 2:29 on the clock and SMC continued to roll, leading BYU 21-12 at the end of the first quarter.

QUARTER 2 | Senior Megan McKay hit a free throw to open the second period, giving her nine points in the game and SMC a 10-point advantage. The Gaels pushed their lead to as many as 13 points when sophomore Emily Codding knocked down her first 3-pointer of the game at the 6:28 mark. The Cougars came back with an 9-0 run, cutting SMC's lead to four points (29-25) with 5:04 remaining. Later, two more BYU free throws made it a 3-point game, but freshman Taycee Wedin hit an open trey to push the Gaels' lead back to six. The Cougars responded with a pair of layups, trimming their deficit to two points (33-31) and then scored two free throws to tie the contest at 33 points apiece. With 2:14 on the clock, BYU took their first lead of the game as two more free throws made it 35-33 Cougars. However, in their next possession, junior Tyra Moe scored a 3-pointer (her second since January 5) to give SMC back the lead. In the final minute, Saint Mary's managed to pull ahead by four points thanks to a jumper from Turner and a free throw from junior Jasmine Forcadilla. The Gaels led 39-35 at the half.

QUARTER 3 | Forcadilla got the scoring going for Saint Mary's in the second half, hitting a 3-pointer to make it 42-36. However, BYU quickly erased their deficit with a 6-point run to tie the game at 42-42 at the 7:41 mark. After a called timeout by the Gaels, McKay made a layup, but the Cougars responded with a 3-pointer followed by a pair of layups to give them a 5-point lead (their biggest to that point). Now playing from behind, McKay gave SMC a pair of points with another jumper and Turner added two more with two shots from the foul line. Now trailing by one, the Cougars came back with a pair of free throws and a layup returned the 5-point lead to BYU's side. With 37 seconds to go, the Cougars scored a layup to go ahead by seven (their biggest lead of the game), ending the quarter with a 60-53 lead.

QUARTER 4 | Saint Mary's opened the final quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 1-point lead (61-60) with 8:22 on the clock. This sparked back-and-forth play between the two sides as the lead switched hands multiple times. The Gaels led by as much as five points in the final two minutes and by three with 13 seconds to play. At that point, Forcadilla made a pair of crucial free throws to put SMC up by four. The Cougars made a layup less than three seconds later, forcing Forcadilla to go back to the line after a foul and she split her two attempts. Now, with 3.7 seconds remaining, Saint Mary's held BYU from scoring and SMC held on for the 3-point 78-75 win.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

1: Saint Mary's handed BYU their first conference loss at home this season.
2: Two Gaels recorded double doubles including McKay (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Raggio (11 points, 13 rebounds).
48: SMC outrebounded BYU 48-31
4: Four Gaels scored double-digit points (McKay – 19, Turner – 16, Forcadilla – 13, Raggio 11)
10: Amount of 3-pointers for SMC. They have now scored double-digit 3-pointers in three of their last four games (10 games overall).
25-15: The Gaels outscored the Cougars by 10 points in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback.

QUOTABLE

"We made a couple of small defensive adjustments during halftime," said head coach Paul Thomas. "Another key part of this win was our ability to keep them off the foul line in the fourth quarter. I think our team always has confidence going into these games. They did a great job of preparing."

COMING UP

Saint Mary's will close out their road trip on Saturday when they take on San Diego at 2:00 p.m.