LAS VEGAS — With the regular season having concluded, the calendar turns to March and the West Coast Conference heads to Las Vegas. The 2021 UCU WCC Basketball Tournament officially began this morning with the opening round, but Saint Mary's Women's Basketball receives a first-round bye and will begin play in the second round of the tournament against the team they concluded the regular season against: the Pacific Tigers.
 
THE DETAILS
#7 seed Saint Mary's Gaels (6-18, 4-14) vs. #6 seed Pacific Tigers (11-10, 9-9)
Friday, March 5 at 2:00 pm
Orleans Arena – Las Vegas
Watch Live | Listen Live (with Alex Jensen) | Live Stats
 
LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's wrapped up the regular season on the road at Pacific on Saturday, February 27 with a 73-54 loss at the hands of the Tigers. The first half of the game was the difference, with Saint Mary's scoring just 18 points in the first half while allowing Pacific to shoot at over 60% in the first 20 minutes of play. Things improved for the Gaels in the second half, where they out-scored Pacific 36-31, but by that point, the damage had been done. All five players who played off the bench for Saint Mary's saw more minutes than the Gaels starters in an effort to keep the team fresh for the tournament.
 
GOING BACK TO BACK
The last time Saint Mary's played an opponent in back-to-back games (closing out the regular season, then starting the WCC tournament) was during the 2016-17 season, when the Gaels beat Santa Clara to end the regular season and then again to open up the WCC Tournament. It also happened during the 2011-12 season, when the Gaels beat Pepperdine on back-to-back occasions.
 
ABOUT PACIFIC
The Gaels and Tigers meet again in the second round of the WCC tournament after closing out the regular season together. Pacific comes in with a 11-10 record and is 9-9 overall in conference play. The Tigers are rolling into this matchup with a lot of confidence, after winning their last five games, including two against San Diego (runners-up at the tournament last year). However, none of those firstr four wins (prior to the SMC game) have been by more than nine points (three of them by five or fewer). Valerie Higgins is in the middle of another stellar year, with 16.5 points per game, 9.3 rebounds per game, and 71 total steals.
 
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO
The winner of Saint Mary's/Pacific will take on the USF dons in the Quarterfinals on Saturday, March 6, with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 pm. The Dons had an incredible ride to the third-best seed in the tournament, based off the KenPom Adjusted Winning Percentage model. Regardless of model, the Dons were just one of three teams in the WCC to win 10 conference games, only behind BYU (13) and Gonzaga (16). Ioanna Krimili is one of the best players in the conference, and is wrapping up a marvelous freshman season that saw her lead the conference in points per game, three-point percentage, and free throw percentage.