SPOKANE, Wash. — On the road for the first time in conference play, Saint Mary's opened up with one of the toughest tasks in the WCC: taking on #23 Gonzaga. So often on the road, it takes a perfect game to take down the Zags, similar to what Saint Mary's did at home last year against Gonzaga. This time, the result went in favor of the home team, with Gonzaga picking up a 69-37 win over the Gaels. Gonzaga improves to 8-2 (3-0) while Saint Mary's falls to 2-6 (0-2).
 
DEFENSE IN THE KENNEL
Playing defense on the road against Gonzaga can be one of the most difficult tasks for opposing teams, but Saint Mary's had the defense rolling for a majority of this contest against a ranked Zags team. Despite trailing by 14 at the halftime, Saint Mary's held Gonzaga to just 33.3% shooting from the floor in the opening half, and only 2-13 from three-point range. The first half performance for Gonzaga was the second worst of the season for the Zags, with only South Dakota doing a better job defensively in the opening half than Saint Mary's did.
 
OUT TO THE RACES
Gonzaga began to pull ahead in the third period, building up a lead that Saint Mary's could not erase. After the strong defensive performance early, the Bulldogs shot at nearly 60% in the third quarter, putting up 24 points. Madeline Holland hit the Gaels first three pointer of the game in that quarter, but SMC did not have an answer for the diverse Zags attack, which featured five players with at least eight points.
 
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
Every Gael that got into Monday's game found the stat sheet, with Taycee Wedin leading the way with nine points…Finau Tonga was on pace for a double-double after the first half, and finished with six points and eight rebounds…Monday marked the second time the Gaels have been out-rebounded in a game, trailing by 18 in the rebound department, their largest deficit of the season…Leia Hanafin appeared in the second game of her collegiate career and went a perfect 3-3 from the field to set an early career-best of six points…SMC only had one more turnover than Gonzaga, their closest turnover margin of the season.
 
UP NEXT
The second game of the first WCC road trip of the season takes place on Monday afternoon as the Gaels kick off another week of hoops against Portland. The Pilots are the defending champions of the WCC and help make the trip up north as one of the more difficult road trips in the conference. Tip-off is set for 2:00 pm in Portland and then the Gaels return home for the weekend.
 
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