MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's Women's Basketball Team is slated to open the season November 7 against Nevada in an 11:00 a.m. home game that will feature over a thousand sixth graders in attendance that should make for a very vibrant atmosphere.
 
The special event was put together with Women's Basketball alum Lindsay Lopez-Wisely, who is now the Director of Educational Services for the Antioch Unified School District.
 
OPENING WITH CLASS
SMC Women's Basketball had a smaller version of the "kid's day" last season that was already a raucous atmosphere against Portland and they are cranking it up several notches this season

"Last year I worked in collaboration with Coach Thomas, and I was able to bring 150 middle school students to a 'kid's day,'" Lopez-Wisely said. "We toured the campus, ate lunch in the dining hall, had a chalk talk, and watched the game. It was such a success we decided to expand our efforts. I committed to bringing all of the district's 6th-grade students this time. We are thrilled that we could expand the program and include over 1,200 students."
 
The Women's Basketball program and Saint Mary's hope the experience gives the students a look into everything attending college can offer them, especially right here in Moraga.
 
"The Antioch Unified School District is working hard to expand college and career curriculum to our middle school students," Lopez-Wisely added. "We received a grant three years ago and have implemented a career class, digital curriculum, and other work-based learning experiences (guest speakers, field trips, etc.).
 
"Having the opportunity to tour SMC is an amazing opportunity, not only is it one of the most beautiful colleges on the West Coast, but it has so many great programs. Having the chance to visit SMC is hopefully inspiring and gives our students the chance to imagine what their future could be like. We want our students to have the knowledge and understanding on how to get to college and the motivation to reach that goal."
 
Making the game part of the students' school day as a field trip is the reason for the 11 a.m. start time, allowing them to still keep their normal school schedule, tour the campus, hear from guest speakers, and enjoy the whole game.
 
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Saint Mary's Women's Basketball is coming off an 18-15 season in 2021-22, finishing the campaign by winning the Women's Basketball Invitational in Lexington, Ky. They are looking to build off that successful finish to the season that was accomplished by a very young Saint Mary's team last year.
 
The beauty of the Gaels being a rather young squad last season is that this year they return all but two members of last year's team, and added grad-student transfer Clair Steele who led the nation in turnover-to-assist ratio at Lehigh University after playing her high school ball at nearby Miramonte high.  
 
Head Coach Paul Thomas enters the season just seven wins short of 300 in his career at Saint Mary's, and the program's all-time wins leader would become the first Saint Mary's Women's Basketball coach to reach the milestone.
 
Redshirt junior Ali Bamberger was named to the West Coast Conference 2022-23 All-WCC Preseason Team. She took home the WCC Newcomer of the Year Award last year in her first season of competition as a Gael after transferring from the University of Washington.
 
The Walnut Creek, Calif. native sat out the previous year while rehabbing a knee injury that took two surgeries and 16 months of rehab. She returned to play to finish with 15.3 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game while starting all 33 contests for Saint Mary's last season, and was also named to the WCC All-Conference First Team.
 
Grad student Taycee Wedin will continue to rewrite the WCC and SMC record books in 2022-23. Last season she became the Saint Mary's and WCC all-time leader in career three pointers made with 323, and she surpassed her own WCC mark of threes made in a season of 104 with 106 three pointers made. She became the 25th player in program history to surpass 1,000 points in her time at Saint Mary's and finished the year with 1,332 career points.

Sophomore Makena Mastora made the WCC All-Freshman Team in 2021-22 after playing in all 33 games and starting the Gaels final nine games. She scored in double figures six times, including 10 points in the WBI semifinal versus Bowling Green. 
 
Junior Tayla Dalton is one of the many returners for the Gaels after starting 28 games last season and averaging just under 10 points a game. She is also a member of the New Zealand Women's 3x3 Team, where she gained valuable international playing time along with her postseason experience at the WBI.

"I think the WBI was a great opportunity for us to finish the season on a high note," Dalton said. I think after the WCC tournament in Las Vegas, we felt we had some unfinished business, so went to the WBI, left it all out there and finished with a championship, and hopefully this year it can be the WCC Championship. I think with our experience coming back we already have a higher foundation, and we can take the WBI Championship and build off that."
 
SMC will host their annual Thanksgiving Tournament on November 25 and 26, welcoming Niagara University, The University of Maine, and the University of Kansas to UCU Pavilion. It will be the first-ever meeting with Niagara on November 25 and just the second meeting ever against Kansas. SMC last played the Jayhawks - who went 21-10 last season - on the road in Lawrence, Kan. in December of 2019.

Their first WCC home game will be against LMU on January 5 and the first home Saturday WCC game is on January 7 against Pepperdine. Even their road games in January are local as they'll play at Santa Clara on January 12 and in San Francisco on the 14th.

The Gaels will finish WCC play the same way they started it by taking on the Pacific tigers, this time in Moraga, Calif. on February 25. SMC was 9-9 in conference play last season, and 8-6 overall at home.

Tickets for the upcoming Saint Mary's Women's Basketball season are available by clicking HERE, and group youth ticket packages are available by clicking HERE.