LOS ANGELES – The Saint Mary's Women's Basketball team will head to Southern California to take on the USC Trojans on Wednesday for their last game before Christmas break.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (7-4) at USC (9-2)
Wednesday, December 21 at 2:00 p.m.
Galen Center – Los Angeles  
WATCH | LIVE STATS |
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels won a thriller in their WCC opener, defeating the Pacific Tigers 69-66 in overtime on Saturday afternoon, giving Head Coach Paul Thomas his 300th win at SMC.
 
A 7-0 run by Pacific would start the fourth, putting them up by eight with 7:31 left to play. The Gaels trailed by eight again with 3:53 to go before fighting their way back. Tayla Dalton would hit a three pointer on back-to-back SMC possessions -- with a basket by the Tigers sandwiched in between -- and the Gaels were down by just four with 2:50 left.
 
Another Taycee Wedin three made it just a 61-60 lead for Pacific with 56 seconds to go. The Gaels fouled the Tigers and they only hit one free throw, giving the Gaels a chance to tie or take the lead. Makena Mastora would be fouled hard on the ensuing inbound after a Gaels timeout, and calmly sank both free throws to tie the game at 62-62 with 23.2 seconds remaining.
 
The Tigers tried to hold for the last shot, but the Gaels played perfect, arms-up defense to get the stop and secure the rebound before time expired in regulation.
 
Overtime started with another big shot by Mastora, hitting a three from the wing behind a screen from Ali Bamberger. The Gaels center would score herself after a slick feed from Leia Hanafin and put SMC ahead for good with 2:07 remaining in OT.
 
Saint Mary's defense would make two consecutive stops before Taycee Wedin scored on a perfect back-door feed for Hanafin putting the Gaels up 69-66 with 38 seconds left in overtime.
 
But the Gaels couldn't convert on opportunities at the free throw line to put the game away, giving the Tigers life. However, SMC's defense again answered the bell, forcing Pacific into three difficult shots on their final possessions to hang on for the win.
 
ABOUT USC
USC is currently coached by Lindsay Gottlieb, who was previously the head coach at Cal from 2011 to 2019 and played the Gaels six times during that span. She recently returned to college coaching after serving as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers, becoming the first NCAA Women's Head Coach to be hired by an NBA team.
 
The Trojans only two losses have come in their last two games, in losses to No. 10 UCLA and powerhouse Texas.
 
USC was receiving votes in the preseason USA Today poll. In the latest round of national rankings, USC is receiving votes in the USA Today Poll (released Dec. 20). USC entered this week rated 42 in the NET rankings.

USC entered the week ranked as the No. 5 team in the nation in scoring defense, having allowed just 50.2 points per game through its 9-2 start to the season. The Trojans also are top-25 in four other categories:  3-point percentage defense (3rd — 22.0%), field goal percentage defense (10th ‚ 33.3%), blocks per game (11th - 5.6 bpg) and steals per game (24th — 11.6). 
 
It will be just the third meeting ever between the two programs, with SMC winning both games. They defeated the Trojans 71-55 on December 19, 2013 in Los Angeles, and 64-58 the following year at home on December 6, 2014.
 
The two teams were very evenly matched in 2013, with USC finishing at 22-13 and SMC at 23-10 the year the Gaels defeated the Trojans by 16 points. USC would win the Pac-12 Tournament before losing to St. John's in the NCAA tournament. Saint Mary's would beat San Diego in the WCC tourney before a loss to Gonzaga, and defeat CSU Bakersfield in the WNIT before a loss to UTEP.
 
The Gaels were 23-11 the following year when they beat USC by six, and advanced all the way to the elite eight of the 2015 WNIT before losing to UCLA. The Trojans finished 15-15 that season.
 
Current Gaels Assistant Coach Mariya Moore finished her playing career at USC after transferring from Louisville, and averaged 13 points per game under former Trojans head coach Mark Trakh.
 
2022-23 YEARBOOK
The 2021-22 Saint Mary's Basketball Yearbook is available HERE. This contains all of your information on both Saint Mary's basketball programs, coach and player profiles, as well as Saint Mary's, administration, and fan information.
 
#GaelsRise — 2022-23 tickets and ticket packages are on sale now! To purchase tickets, click HERE. If you have questions, contact the ticket office by email smctickets@stmarys-ca.edu or call 925-631-4689.