PROVO, Utah — Saint Mary's Women's Basketball was slated to hit the road for a pair of game this weekend in WCC play. That changed with the postponement of their Saturday contest against San Diego, to be made up at a later date. With just one game away from home, the Gaels turn their attention to BYU on Thursday night.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels (2-9, 0-5) at BYU Cougars (7-2, 3-1)
Thursday, January 14, at 5:00 pm PDT
Marriott Center – Provo, Utah
Watch Live | Live Stats
 
LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's capped off a week of home basketball with a Saturday contest against San Francisco, where the Gaels were strong in the first half but failed to finish in the second half. After trailing by just five at halftime, Saint Mary's eventually lost 73-56 in part to putting up just nine points in the fourth quarter. Over the last two games, the Gaels have managed just 13 total points in the final ten minutes. For their part, the Gaels shot 44.2% from the field and 6-16 from three-point range.
 
COUNT ON CROCO
One of the bright spots as of late on offense for Saint Mary's has been the improved play of Ellie Croco, who is cranking it up a few notches during her freshman season. After struggling to score for the first few weeks, Croco has set back-to-back career-bests with eight points against Santa Clara, and then 12 points on Saturday against USF. Most of Croco's work against the Dons came in the second half, where she put up seven points on two buckets, including one from beyond the arc. She shot 4-5 overall while adding a pair of rebounds and one assist. After just three points in her first six collegiate games, Croco has put up 21 points over her last four.
 
ABOUT BYU
A top finisher in the WCC during the 2019-20 regular season, the BYU Cougars are strong contenders once again. The Cougars have won three of their first four conference games, most recently taking down LMU 71-57 on the road on January 7. Their only defeat in conference play was on January 4 to San Diego, in a narrow 58-56 fashion. On offense, the Cougars sport the leading scorer in the conference with Shaylee Gonzales (20.4 PPG) and on defense, Lauren Gustin leads the WCC and is ranked third in the country in rebounds per game (13.2). Sara Hamson was a blocking machine last year and currently has 21 blocks in 9 games this season.