PORTLAND, Ore. — After Saturday's loss to #23 Gonzaga, Saint Mary's Women's Basketball needed some shots to start falling on Monday against Portland to take down the conference champs from one season ago. While the offense started to get in stride once more, the Pilots were in a higher gear, outshooting the Gaels in an 81-58 defeat. Portland improves to 6-3 (3-0) while Saint Mary's returns home at 2-7 (0-3).
 
BRAVO, BOESEL
One of the bright spots on Monday offensively was the performance of Jordyn Boesel, who lit up the scoreboard to the tune of 12 points, a career-best for the senior. It did not take long for her to hit her career-best in points, doing so in the first quarter alone, and ending the game a tidy 5-6 from the floor and 2-3 from beyond the arc (also a career-best in made three-pointers). Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this was the fact that she only played in 17 minutes.
 
BACK IN FORM
After a pair of games without scoring in double-digits, Finau Tonga returned to form on Monday afternoon with a 16-point, 10-rebound performance for her third double-double of the season, and the first in WCC play. Tonga helped give the Gaels a +9 edge in the rebounding department over Portland. Tonga went 8-15 from the floor in just 25 minutes, appearing off the bench for the first time in conference play.
 
RUNNING TO AN EARLY LEAD
Shots were falling for both Portland and Saint Mary's in the first quarter of Monday's game, but the Gaels were able to get the last laugh, taking a 20-19 lead into the second quarter. Taycee Wedin scored 8 of the team's first 13 points, and her layup with 3:05 remaining sparked a 9-0 run for the Gaels to close out the quarter, capped by five points in one minute from Boesel.
 
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
Interestingly enough, the Gaels made and attempted the same amount of shots in each half of the game (13 makes on 31 shots)…Portland was nearly identical as well, shooting at 17-33 in the first half and 18-32 in the second half…the teams combined for just five free throw attempts in the whole game, making two of those…18 of the Gaels 37 rebounds were on the offensive glass, translating to 17 second-chance points…Madeline Holland scored 12 points, giving her at least 12 points in seven of nine games this season.
 
UP NEXT
The busy stretch of games continues into the weekend for Saint Mary's, as the Gaels return home for their first WCC homestand of the year. The Gaels begin by hosting Santa Clara on Thursday, January 7 at 6:30 pm before welcoming in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon. Saint Mary's won WCC games against both teams last season on the road.
 
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