SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Saint Mary's Women's Basketball team had a double-digit, halftime lead slip away in a 69-65 loss on Thursday night, despite a career night from Ali Bamberger who had 23 points, 24 rebounds, and five blocks.
 
SOUTH BY NOT SOUTHWEST
The Gaels had players stranded throughout the western half of the country after the Christmas break, and even had their team's flight to San Diego canceled before being able to charter south to take on the Toreros.
 
Point guard Clair Steele missed the game after being stranded in Montana with family, and the Wedin sisters were driven by their dad from the Portland area to Shasta, Calif. where SMC staff were able to bring them the rest of the way.
 
After that scramble to get as much of the team as possible to San Diego, the Gaels came out strong. They led by six after one quarter of play, and took a 38-27 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
ONE AT A TIME
But the Toreros began to chip away at the Gaels lead from there, with a disparity in free throws being the biggest culprit. SMC had trouble defending without committing fouls in the second half and USD hit four more free throws on nine more attempts in a third quarter they would win by four.
 
It was more of the same in the fourth, with USD going 6 of 11 from the field to the Gaels 4 of 12 along with 5 of 8 from the foul line for the Toreros to SMC's 1 for 2. San Diego would take their first lead since the score was 2-0 on a free throw with 1:31 remaining.
 
USD led 60-58 with 59 seconds left, before Hannah Rapp drove into the lane and hit a game-tying shot with 33 seconds to go. Each team would block the other's final shot of regulation which forced overtime.
 
BONUS BALL
The Gaels jumped out to a four-point lead in overtime on shots in the paint by Leia Hanafin and Rapp, but free throws by USD cut it one with 1:20 to go in OT. The Toreros center Amanda Olinger hit just her third three pointer in 15 attempts on the season to put San Diego up for good, stunning the Gaels in the process.
 
Bamberger would hit a free throw to cut it back to 66-65 USD with 27 seconds left. But Saint Mary's looked a bit gassed in OT, committing a turnover and missing their next three shots while San Diego hit three more free throws to seal the 69-65 win.
 
USD was 6 of 12 on free throws in overtime to the Gaels 1 for 2 and out rebounded SMC 10-5 in the extra frame.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
It was a career-high 24 rebounds for Bamberger, tying the team record as a D-I program set by Danielle Mauldin against Gonzaga in 2013, and one behind the overall program record of 25 by Mary Ann Little as a D-II program. The 24 rebounds put the Walnut Creek, Calif. native over 400 rebounds in her career at SMC, giving her 404 rebounds as a Gael to go along with her 71 boards as a Washington Husky. She also recorded a career-high in blocks with her five rejections Thursday night.
 
It was the second 20-point, 20-rebound game for Bamberger in her career after putting up 22 points and 20 rebounds versus San Jose State last season, which was the first 20-20 game for a Gael since Mauldin's in '13.
 
It was the Gaels third overtime game of the season but their first loss, bringing them to 2-1 in OT this season.
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will travel to Provo, Utah to take on BYU at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Saturday, December 31.