SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball will finish the calendar year – and their string of six-straight road games – by playing at USD on Thursday and at BYU on Saturday. The Gaels are already 1-0 in WCC play, and now enter the tick of the West Coast Conference slate.
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (7-5) at USD (6-7)
Thursday, December 29 at 6:00 p.m.
Jenny Craig Pavilion – San Diego, Calif.
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LIVE STATS |
Saint Mary's (7-5) at BYU (5-8)
Saturday, December 31 at 1:00 p.m.
Marriott Center – Provo, Utah
WATCH |
LIVE STATS |
LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels battled back from a first-half, double-digit deficit against the USC Trojans before the Women of Troy pulled away in the second half of a 71-45 loss for the Gaels.
Saint Mary's found themselves down 13 going into the second quarter after the Trojans went 12 of 18 from the field in the first. But the Gaels defense buckled down in the second and held USC to 1 of 19 in the quarter.
That defense paired with five different Gaels scoring in the second quarter allowed them to cut it to a four-point USC lead.
Amy West flipped in a left-handed shot to make it just 28-24 Trojans with 1:17 to go in the half, before USC hit a pair of free throws to make it 32-26 at the break.
Taycee Wedin came out strong in the first half went she went 4 of 5 from three-point range for 12 points. But USC would shut down the Gaels offense in the second half, holding Saint Mary's to 19 points and 7 of 31 shooting (22.7%) and under 50 points for the first time this season.
ABOUT USD
Myah Pace was named to the West Coast Conference All-WCC Preseason Team going into the season. The Oakland, Calif. native is a two-time All-WCC honoree, who returns after missing much of the 2021-22 season.
In her last full season of action in 2020-21, Pace was the Toreros leading scorer, averaging 11.8 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game and 2.5 assists per game. She has now been named an All-WCC Preseason Team honoree for three consecutive seasons.
Pace is closing in on several milestones in her highly successful Torero career, currently sitting on 968 points in collegiate career, and recently cleared 500 career rebounds and she currently has 514. In addition, Pace ranks fifth all-time in career steals with 201 and is 20 away from tying Amy Kame for fourth place.
The Toreros were picked to finish sixth in the WCC preseason poll, with 46 votes, just behind the Gaels.
ABOUT BYU
BYU dropped the first two WCC games on the road (at Gonzaga, at Portland) but now have three straight home WCC contests against Pacific, Saint Mary's and San Diego. Last season, BYU won the WCC regular-season conference crown, going 15-1. The Cougars were picked to finish third this season in the preseason coach's poll.
Forward Lauren Gustin continues to be a force down low and has 12 double-doubles in 13 games. Gustin is averaging 15.3 points per game and 14.2 rebounds. She is tops nationally in total rebounds with 185 and second in rebounds per game at 14.2. The junior from Salem, Utah has posted 20 or more rebounds twice this season, with 20 against Oklahoma and a career-high 23 against Monmouth.
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.
