MORAGA, Calif. – The Gaels recorded the pivotal 75-62 win over Pacific on Friday night to secure the No. 4 seed in the West Coast Conference Championship.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• QUARTER 1 | The Gaels got out to an early seven point lead over the Tigers, and kept a steady advantage over them through the first half of the quarter. With 4:10 left on the clock, senior Sydney Raggio collected her 1,000 career rebound, making her just the fourth Gael in program history to record both 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points. The two teams spent most of the period going point-for-point and the period ended with Saint Mary's on top 20-16. Senior Megan McKay lead the team with seven points in the first, while junior Emily Codding collected six.

 

• QUARTER 2 | Saint Mary's scored the first points of the second period before Pacific went on a run and brought the score within one point. Freshman Sam Simons sank her second three-pointer of the game to give the Gaels a 28-24 lead before both teams went scoreless for almost three minutes. Simons hit her third three of the game following the drought and was shooting 75 percent with just under two minutes to go in the half. Senior Carly Turner drained her first three of the game to pull the Gaels ahead by 11 points, and the half ended with SMC ahead of Pacific 37-26. Saint Mary's shot 53.3 percent from beyond the arc in the first half compared to Pacific who shot 22 percent.

 

• QUARTER 3 | SMC went on a 6-1 run to start the third quarter before extending their lead to 16 points over Pacific. With five minutes left to go in the period, the Gaels were outshooting the Tigers 47 percent to 34, while Simons had taken over as top-scorer with 11 points. Saint Mary's continued to lead Pacific by a steady ten-point margin into the final two minutes of the quarter. The Tigers took advantage of a number of drives in the final minute and brought the lead back within single digits. The period ended with the Gaels on top of the Tigers 55-46.

 

• QUARTER 4 | Turner hit her second three of the game just as the final quarter began that sparked a 9-2 run for the Gaels. Saint Mary's reached their largest lead of the game with 4:32 left to play as they were leading Pacific 71-50. Shortly after, Pacific went on a 10-0 run of their own and put pressure on the Gaels in the last two minutes. SMC was able to lock down on defense at the end and went on to record the 75-62 win over the Tigers.

QUOTABLES

"I went in with the mentality that I've got to give it my all because I'm not going to play here again. I was thinking, 'Go hard or go home,'" said senior McKay. "It was a fun game from the start, we really wanted to enjoy the game and have good time. I think you could see it on our faces and in the way we played that we wanted to enjoy it."

"Senior night is an extremely emotional time for the players and coaches," said head coach Paul Thomas. "Meg, Syd, and Turner were phenomenal tonight and did a great job of keeping themself in check. They knew the importance of this game and what it meant so they did an awesome job. All four seniors are incredibly gifted people and they showed that character tonight."

NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 39: Points recorded by Saint Mary's seniors on Senior Night
• 1,004: Career number of rebounds for Raggio after collecting six tonight
• 53.3: Gaels' three-point shooting percentage through the first half
• 44: Rebounds for the Gaels compared the the Tigers who recorded 33

COMING UP

With Friday's win, the Gaels have secured the No. 4 seed in the West Coast Conference Championship. Saint Mary's will play next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Las Vegas against the winner of Game Three.

#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.