MORAGA, Calif. — Wrapping up a weekend of hoops inside UCU Pavilion, Saint Mary's Women's Basketball took on the San Francisco Dons on Saturday morning. In a similar fashion to the Gaels loss on Thursday against Santa Clara, both teams were shooting well in the first half, but the Gaels cooled off in the second half en route to a 73-56 loss. Saint Mary's falls to 2-9 (0-5) while the Dons improve to 5-6 (1-4).
 
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.
 
BRIANNA IS BACK
After a slow start in West Coast Conference play, Brianna Simonich returned with a strong showing on Saturday against the Dons. Simonich went 5-10 from the floor for a total of 11 points, a season-best for the Danville native. She also brought in five rebounds and hit her first three-pointer since the season opener against VCU. Continuing to fill up the stat sheet like she has all season, she also added a pair of assists and steals and continues to lead the Gaels in both categories.
 
TALE OF TWO HALVES
Saint Mary's found themselves right in the thick of the game at half time, much like they were at the half against Santa Clara on Thursday. On Saturday against the Dons, Saint Mary's trailed by just five at half and shot 51.7% from the floor and 4-9 from deep. The output dropped considerably in the second half, where the Gaels were under 35% as a team, while San Francisco shot at 55%. Finau Tonga joined Croco and Simonich as the only Gaels to hit multiple shots in the second half.
 
POSTPONEMENT NEXT WEEK
Saint Mary's was planning on a two-game road trip in conference play next week, but those plans are temporarily put on pause. Due to a positive COVID-19 test on the San Diego roster, the Gaels scheduled conference game against the Toreros on Saturday, Jan. 16 has been postponed indefinitely. The two teams will work together on finding a make-up date for the contest, but the Toreros are actively shut down for the next two weeks.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's is still scheduled to hit the road next week and stay in WCC play as they travel to Provo, Utah for a date with the BYU Cougars. Thursday night's game is scheduled to tip-off at 5:00 pm PST. For BYU, it will be their first game in a week after their Saturday game against Pepperdine was postponed due to caution over COVID-19 on the Waves' side.