MORAGA, Calif. — The final week of January stands as one of the busiest and most important of the season for Saint Mary's Women's Basketball. The Gaels hit the road on Tuesday for a conference make-up game with San Diego before returning home to take on the Portland Pilots on Thursday and #18 Gonzaga on Saturday afternoon.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels (4-10, 2-6) at San Diego Toreros (5-3, 2-1)
Tuesday, January 26 at 1:00 pm
Jenny Craig Pavilion – San Diego, Calif.
Watch Live | Live Stats
 
Portland Pilots (7-6, 4-3) at Saint Mary's Gaels (4-10, 2-6)
Thursday, January 28 at 1:00 pm
University Credit Union Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
Watch Live (with Ben Ross) | Live Stats
 
#18 Gonzaga Bulldogs (13-2, 8-0) at Saint Mary's Gaels (4-10, 2-6)
Saturday, January 30 at 1:00 pm
University Credit Union Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
Watch Live (with Ben Ross) | Live Stats
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels picked up their first two WCC wins of the year last week as they took down Pepperdine on Thursday night and then LMU on Saturday afternoon. In those wins, Taycee Wedin was the star of the show for Saint Mary's, putting up 35 points, including tying a career-best with 24 in the LMU win Saturday. This led her to being named the UCU WCC Player of the Week for the second time in her career. The Gaels won the rebound battle in both games, and held both the Waves and Lions to shooting under 40%.
 
AUSTRALIAN HERITAGE NIGHT
An annual tradition at Saint Mary's, the Gaels will have their Australian Heritage Night game on Thursday as they host Portland, game one of a doubleheader against Portland as both men's teams will play that night. Saint Mary's currently boasts for players on its roster from Australia. In conjunction with Australian Heritage Night, there will also be a new "All About the G" podcast with Alex Jensen that will be a roundtable discussion with former Australian players from both the men's and women's teams. Check out "All About the G" HERE.
 
ABOUT SAN DIEGO
The Gaels and Toreros meet in a make-up game after San Diego had a postive COVID-19 test that shut the program down for five games. They are 5-3 overall on the year and 2-1 in conference play a year after making it to the WCC Championship game. They will end the season with five-straight weeks of playing mid-week basketball games, with four of those weeks having three games. No one player stands out offensively for the Toreros, but eight players are averaging six points per game, with Jordyn Edwards leading the way at 10.6 points per game. This marks the first game for San Diego since January 4.
 
ABOUT PORTLAND
The defending conference champions have cooled off a bit after a hot start to the season, losing three of their last four conference games: two to a ranked-Gonzaga team, and one surprising upset loss to Santa Clara. Still, at 4-3 in conference play, the Pilots are positioning themselves to make some noise in March. Alex Fowler and Haylee Andrews remain some of the best players in the conference, with Fowler 15 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game, while Andrews is scoring at a 14.2 PPG clip while leading the conference with 61 assists.
 
ABOUT GONZAGA
Up to the 18^th-spot in the country, Gonzaga is catching fire at the time they did last season as well. Winners of 12-straight, the Bulldogs have not allowed more than 62 points in a conference game this season. They did have two games canceled due to precautions over COVID-19, but they did not skip a beat in their most recent win over Portland on Sunday. Jenn Wirth (13.5 PPG) and Jill Townsend (13.1 PPG) lead the offense, but it's the defense that is stifling on this team, which includes a WCC-best rebound margin of +13.5.