MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball never trailed against the Niagara University Purple Eagles on their way to a 73-59 win in the Gaels' first game of the Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic.  
 
SMC jumped out to a 10-point lead at 22-12 with 2:42 to go in the first quarter on a layup by Amy West, who saw her first action of the 2022-23 campaign after a shoulder injury last season.
 
The Gaels would get their lead up to 16 in the first half on a layup by Aspen Garrison to make it 36-20 with under three minutes to go in the second quarter, and went into the half up 38-28 after another layup by West.
 
Saint Mary's kept Niagara at arm's length throughout the third quarter by never letting them trim the lead to less than eight, and went into the fourth still up by 10 at 52-42.
 
The Purple Eagles would cut it to eight again to start the fourth quarter, but an Ali Bamberger basket put it back to 10, and then Makena Mastora would hit a corner three pointer on two-straight possessions, both set up by great ball movement from Clair Steele and Leia Hanafin.
 
That put the Gaels back up by 14 at 60-46 with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining. Niagara answered with a basket and a foul before Mastora hit another corner three, this time from the opposite side to put it right back to 14 at 63-49 with 6:20 to go, tying her career high in threes in a game with three.
 
Niagara would cut it to eight again with 3:50 to go on a turnaround jumper in the lane, but that's as close at the Purple Eagles would get. A pair of Bamberger free throws put it right back to 10 at 67-57, and a Taycee Wedin basket after she rebounded her own miss made it 14 again with just over two minutes remaining.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Bamberger had another solid performance with 18 points and five rebounds, going 6 of 9 from the field, a perfect 6 for 6 at the free-throw line, and even led the team in steals with three.
 
Wedin came in hot, scoring 12 of her 16 points in the first half, hitting two more three pointers while going 7 for 12 from the floor. Steele rounded out the Gaels double-figures scorers, tying her season-high 12 points, hitting a three and going 7 for 8 at the charity stripe. She also led the team in assists with eight.
 
Three Gaels tied for the team lead in rebounds, with West, Hanafin, and Hannah Rapp each pulling down eight boards, and Hanafin also dished out seven assists, both career highs for her. Rapp's eight boards tied her career high from earlier this season at Cal Baptist.

Saint Mary's won the rebounding battle as a team 49-25, making them 3-0 on the season when they out rebound their opponent.
 
UP NEXT:
The Gaels will take on the Kansas Jayhawks at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 26 in UCU Pavilion to wrap up the SMC Thanksgiving Classic.