SAN FRANCISCO — While Saint Mary's Women's Basketball might be on the road this week, they won't have to travel far. Saint Mary's will take on the USF Dons on Thursday night before heading down to Santa Clara where they will take on the Santa Clara Broncos on Saturday afternoon in a pair of games that have a big impact on WCC seeding.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels (5-12, 3-8) at San Francisco Dons (9-8, 5-6)
Thursday, February 4 at 6:00 pm
War Memorial Gymnasium – San Francisco
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Saint Mary's Gaels at Santa Clara Broncos (10-6, 6-4)
Saturday, February 6 at 2:00 pm
Leavey Center – Santa Clara, Calif.
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LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's hosted Portland and Gonzaga last week on Thursday and Saturday, and lost to two of the top teams in the WCC. The loss to Portland came down to the game's final shot, where Saint Mary's was unable to knock down the game-winner and fell 69-68 despite an 18-point performance from Madeline Holland. Things were tougher on Saturday against the 18^th-ranked Zags, as the Gaels fell in a 27-point defeat.
 
MORE HOLLAND HEROICS
For the second game in a row, 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.
 
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO
Don't look now, but the Dons are making a run. Winners of four straight WCC games, San Francisco has been playing some of the best basketball in the conference the past few weeks. Most recently, the Dons took down LMU 84-66 in a game that exemplified their play: strong offense, strong defense, and a strong performance from Ioanna Krimili. The freshman was named the WCC Player of the Week after going 10-15 from the floor and an incredible 9-14 from beyond the arc en route to 29 points against the Lions. She appears to be a lock at an All-WCC bid, shooting at 46.4% overall, 44.3% from beyond the arc, and averaging 18.4 points per game.
 
ABOUT THE BRONCOS
Home sweet home. The Broncos will be playing at the Leavey Center for the first time this entire season after county ordinances forced the Broncos to play home games off campus. Most recently, the Broncos took advantage of a tired Pepperdine time and won on back-to-back days to push their WCC record above the .500 mark, putting them into a tie for third place in the standings with Portland. The offense has still be struggling to get going on most games, but their defense has been stellar – holding opponents to just 61.4 points per game, and holding opponents to around 40% shooting from the floor. Lindsey VanAllen has come on as the offensive leader of the bunch, averaging 13.6 points per game.