SAN DIEGO – Saint Mary's dominated from start to finish against San Diego on Saturday and ultimately claimed their largest point differential since February of 2016.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• QUARTER 1 | The Gaels got the game started with an 8-2 run which included a pair of 3-pointers from freshman Sam Simons and junior Jasmine Forcadilla and a jumper from senior Sydney Raggio. SMC did not stop there as they extended their run to 16-2 which included 14 unanswered points. Saint Mary's continued their offensive barrage for the remainder of the quarter, scoring 22 after the first 10 minutes of play while shooting a cool, 83 percent (10-for-12).

 

• QUARTER 2 | SMC put up seven-straight points to open the second quarter, extending their lead to 19 (29-10). Moments later, Forcadilla scored her second triple of the game to give the Gaels a 20-point advantage (32-12) with 7:06 remaining in the period. Their lead stretched as high as 28 points and they outscored San Diego 17-2 in the first eight minutes of the quarter. When it was all said and done, the Gaels held the Toreros to just seven points in the second set of 10 minutes while scoring 22 points themselves (44-17 SMC at the half).

 

• QUARTER 3 | Saint Mary's pushed their lead to 31 points to open the second half after senior Megan McKay scored a pair of jumpers in the first 45 seconds. Neither side scored for the next three minutes, but Forcadilla's 3-pointer with 5:07 on the clock revitalized SMC's offense as they went on to score eight unanswered points in total to lead 56-20. The Gaels maintained their advantage for the remaining five minutes and exited the quarter with a 61-32 lead.

 

• QUARTER 4 | SMC immediately jumped out to a 38-point lead (70-32) after starting the final period on a 9-0 run and soon after stretched it to 40 – their biggest lead of the game (76-36) thanks to six straight points from junior Claire Ferguson with 4:33 to play. The Toreros whittled their deficit down to 31 by the end of the quarter, but Saint Mary's ultimately prevailed with an 80-49 victory.  

 
NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 31: The Gaels' largest point differential since February 20, 2016 when the Gaels defeated Portland by 42 points (95-53).
• 4: Amount of Gaels who scored double-digit points: Forcadilla – 19, Raggio – 15/nine rebounds, McKay – 16/7 rebounds, and Simons – 10/9 assists (a career-high in assists)
• 9: Points for Ferguson (a season-high)
• 92%: Free throw percentage for SMC (only missed one of 13 attempts)
• 23: No. of assists on 31 field goals (their third most assists this season)

 
QUOTABLE
 
"We did a very good job of playing team defense today," said head coach Paul Thomas. "We have struggled in some recent games and I thought we executed the game plan well this afternoon."
 
COMING UP
 
Saint Mary's will now return home for a pair of games at McKeon Pavilion, hosting Santa Clara and San Francisco on February 14 and 16 respectively.