MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Women's Basketball wrapped up the month of January with a home contest against #18 Gonzaga on Saturday afternoon. With a tough task at hand against one of the best defensive teams in the country, the margin for error was razor-thin for the Gaels. While Saint Mary's forced Gonzaga into some sloppy play, it wasn't enough, as the Zags beat Saint Mary's 79-52. With the win, Gonzaga has now won 14 in a row and stand at 15-2 on the year (10-0 WCC) while Saint Mary's falls to 5-12 (3-8).
 
MORE HOLLAND HEROICS
For the second game in a row, Madeline Holland came out of the gate on fire with the basketball in her hands. After scoring a season-best 18 points on Thursday, Holland got ten points on the board by halftime, and finished the game with a team-best 15 points. She was efficient as a shooter yet again, going 6-9 from the floor and draining both of her three-point attempts. This marks the sixth game in a row that Holland has scored at least 12 points, and she is shooting over 50% from the floor during that span.
 
BETTER FROM DISTANCE
It's not often that one team will have a better shooting percentage from three-point range than inside the arc. It's even rarer when both teams will shoot the three-ball better than their field goal percentage. Gonzaga took 17 threes and made nine of them (52.9%) while shooting at a 47.7% from the field overall. Saint Mary's took 25 threes and made eight (32%) while shooting at just 31.5% overall in the game. Taycee Wedin knocked down a pair of shots from distance, and four other Gaels did in addition to both Wedin and Holland, including Tayla Dalton, who made her first three-pointer in the last seven games.
 
FORCING TURNOVERS
For the second game in a row, Saint Mary's did a great job of forcing turnovers from the opposition. Gonzaga equaled the Gaels in turnovers in the first half with 11, and 15 overall for the game. The Gaels wound up with eight steals in the game, and Dalton was all over it defensively, picking up a career-best four steals and her third career block. Four others Gaels had steals, including Jordyn Boesel, who recorded her first steal since January 4. The defensive pressure helped hold Gonzaga to under 30% shooting in the third quarter.
 
ALLYSON ANSWERS
"When we had those three wins in a row, we had a bit of a fight, and a 'never-say-die' attitude. Even in the Portland game, I thought we had some moments where we were together, where we were locked in and focused mentally. I think that's an area we can continue to improve on." – Associate Head Coach, Allyson Fasnacht
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's hits the road for five of the final seven games of the season, starting next weekend when they stay in the Bay Area for a pair of local road games. First up is a rematch against San Francisco on Thursday night at War Memorial Gymnasium, followed by a trip to take on the Broncos of Santa Clara on Saturday.