WBB | Gaels Fight Hard in Loss to Portland

Thursday, February 6

Moraga, Calif.

6:30 P.M.

Saint Mary's College of California

10-13,5-7WCC

Portland

14-9,7-5WCC

Portland

Saint Mary's (CA)

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

WBB | Gaels Fight Hard in Loss to Portland

2/6/2020 8:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's put up a hard fight against Portland on Thursday but were unable to overcome the Pilots as they fell 72-53.

WORK IN THE PAINT
Saint Mary's got comfortable in the paint since the beginning of the contest as they scored 12 of their 17 points low in the post just in the first period. SMC went on to score the majority of their points in the paint as 32 of their 53 total points landed within the arc. Sam Simons led the team with 14 points just in that respective category.

MOMENTUM NOT ENOUGH
Although Saint Mary's carried a strong performance in the beginning of the contest, they were unable to comeback as they put up just 10 points in the second quarter followed by 13 in both the periods in the second half. Four Gaels were still able to reach double-digits in the game: Simons (17), Madeline Holland (10), Claire Ferguson (10), and a career-high 10 points from Mia Grizelj. SMC made just three shots from beyond-the-arc courtesy of Taycee Wedin (2) and Simons (1), which is the team's fewest in a game this year.

TELLING NUMBERS
The Gaels came out strong in the rebounding category as they put up 23 boards compared to Portland's 16 in the first half. Despite Saint Mary's 10-point deficit going into the second half, they ended the contest shooting 47 percent from the field while the Pilots were just shooting 42 percent. The Gaels tallied ten steals during the contest with two coming from three different Gaels, which is good for the team's season-high. Saint Mary's turned it over 26 times, leading to 31 of the points for Portland.

UP NEXT

The Gaels will host No. 11 Gonzaga on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. for the biggest game of the season.

#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.