MORAGA, Calif. — On a day when Saint Mary's Women's Basketball honored its senior class, one final tune-up remained at hand before the 2020 WCC Championships. The Gaels hosted the University of San Francisco on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the regular season, and for the first time since the 2016 postseason, the Dons beat the Gaels. The final on Saturday was 69-55, giving the Gaels a regular-season mark of 11-18 and 6-12 in WCC play.
 
TOP HEAVY
 
Due to a plethora of injuries, the Gaels were only able to suit up seven players on Saturday, while the Dons only played six of their eligible players. As such, a lot of the scoring on Saturday was featured at the top of each roster, with Sam Simons leading the way for the Gaels at 19 points and a perfect 6-6 from the free-throw line. Taycee Wedin added 12 points and Madeline Holland pitched in with 10, but those were the only Gaels to put up notable scoring figures in the loss.
 
SHOOTING STRUGGLES
 
The first half of the contest featured a lot of sluggish play between two smaller rosters, but both defenses were locked in early. Saint Mary's only hit 10 buckets in the first half while holding the Dons to just eight, with both teams shooting below 40% at the intermission, and San Francisco sitting below 30%. The score was just 24-22 in favor of Saint Mary's thanks to a great job controlling the defensive glass, as Brianna Simonich had seven rebounds in the first half. For the game, Saint Mary's managed just a 36% shooting performance, while making only three triples.
 
FREE POINTS
 
One area the Gaels were able to excel in Saturday was shooting from the free throw line, where they went 16-20 as a team. Saint Mary's finishes the regular season as the leaders in the WCC in free throw percentage, at 75.2% heading into the postseason. Six players hit shots from the free throw line, with Simons, Holland, and Jordyn Boesel all going perfect from the charity stripe.
 
TOURNEY TIME
 
Saint Mary's now knows its fate entering the 2020 WCC Tournament, as the Gaels will enter as the seventh seed, playing on the first day of the tournament against tenth-seeded LMU. The Gaels swept the season series against LMU, giving them confidence that they can pull off the three-game sweep for the year. A win on Thursday, March 5 at 2:00 pm would mean the Gaels advance to day two of the tournament on Friday, where they would play Pepperdine, the tournament's sixth seed. The Gaels split with Pepperdine this year, but the Waves are struggling like the Gaels, having dropped four-straight to end the year.
 
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