RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball improved to 2-0 after an 88-81 road win at Cal Baptist, after leading by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter.
 
It was another balanced scoring attack for the Gaels, as five players scored in double figures, led by Taycee Wedin's 21 points, defeating a Lancers team that won 23 games last season and were 83-37 over the last four years.
 
SMC finished the first quarter on a 14-3 run in the final four minutes of the opening frame. They were 9 of 10 at the FT line after the first, while keeping the Lancers to 32% shooting from the field.
 
The Gaels were up 27-20 before CBU cut it back to two early in the second quarter, but Saint Mary's went into the break up by double digits, as nine different players had already scored at that point. Saint Mary's was shooting 50% from the field while limiting Cal Baptist to 30%.
 
SMC extended their lead to 51-37 at the media timeout in the third quarter, as they continued to keep a 20-point advantage in shooting percentage over the Lancers. A 9-0 run by CBU to cut it to 54-46 with two minutes left in the third, before a Wedin three pointer put it back to 11 as SMC led 61-49 going into the fourth.
 
Saint Mary's would get the lead back up to 17 as Wedin heated up in crunch time as usual, with 16 points to lead Saint Mary's with just over six minutes remaining.
 
The Gaels got to their largest lead of 22 on a step-back three from Wedin with 5:01 left to play, as she finished the night 5 of 13 from deep. Saint Mary's was up by 20 with 2:37 to go, before the Lancers made it a little interesting at the end by taking advantage of some sloppy play by the Gaels before Saint Mary's hung on for the win.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
SMC was again solid from the free-throw line, shooting 17-20 on the night to finish at 85%. Clair Steele alone was 9 of 10 from the charity stripe as she finished with 11 points. Hannah Rapp scored a career-high 13 points and eight rebounds, and looked very confident on her drives to the lane and pull-up jumpers.
 
Ali Bamberger also finished with 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting with six boards, and Tayla Dalton rounded out the double-figures scoring with 10 points after going 4 of 6 from the field and 2 of 3 from downtown.
 
Makena Mastora and Jade Kirisome each had five assists to lead the Gaels, tying a career high for Kirisome. Saint Mary's finished the night shooting 41% from three-point range and 53.4% from the floor, while holding CBU to 39.1% shooting on the night.