MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball played a barn burner with the Portland Pilots on Monday afternoon at UCU Pavilion with Portland (17-8, 7-6) escaping with an 89-84 win over SMC. The Gaels are now 13-14 overall and 7-9 in WCC play with two more games remaining. They are currently sixth in the West Coast Conference standings.
 
Saint Mary's outscored Portland in every quarter except the third, but that third was a 33-20 win for the Pilots and turned out to be the difference in the game.
 
The Gaels led by three at the end of the first quarter, as Tayla Dalton led the charge with eight points on New Zealand Heritage Day. SMC shot 64.3% from the field and were 4 of 8 from downtown in the first. They kept it going in the second quarter by shooting 54% from the field and were 3 of 6 from deep, while keeping the Pilots to just 31.3% from the field, though they were 4 of 8 on threes.
 
Saint Mary's led by seven at the half at 40-33, were up by two in rebounds, and were even with the Pilots in turnovers. Taycee Wedin hit four threes in the first half alone and had 12 points at the break.
 
But the Pilots started the second half on an 8-0 run and took at 41-40 lead just 1:45 into the third. The 13-point swing in the third had Portland up by six going into the fourth. The Pilots shot a whopping 64.3% from the field in the third and were 4 of 5 from three-point range. They were also 11 of 15 from the free-throw line compared to just 5 for 8 from the charity stripe for the Gaels. The Pilots grabbed two more rebounds than the Gaels in the third and won the turnover battle by three.
 
There was no quit in the Gaels however, as they were determined to get the season split with the Pilots and atone for their loss in Portland. A pair of Madeline Holland free throws put the Gaels back on top at 71-70 with seven and a half minutes left to play.
 
Portland would get their lead back up to five, but Saint Mary's would tie it up three more times on layups by Amy West and a three by Dalton. A pair of free throws by West had the Gaels up 82-80 with 4:37 to go.
 
A large chunk of the fourth quarter turned into a free throw contest, with both teams up to the task as each only missed one shot from the line. But the Gaels struggled to convert shots in the fourth, shooting just 33.3% compared to 61.5% by the Pilots which allowed Portland to hang on for the five-point win.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Wedin had another big performance, finishing with 21 points, giving her eight games with 20 or more points this season. She hit five more three pointers, leaving her just five shy of tying the WCC, all-time, career record of 298.
 
Four other Gaels scored in double figures, including 17 points for Holland. Ali Bamberger had 13 points with a game-high nine rebounds, Dalton finished with 12 points, and Makena Mastora had 11 points with a game-high six assists. The six assists were a career for the freshman, as were her eight rebounds.
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels were honor seniors Holland and Brianna Simonich on Thursday, February 24 against Pacific at 6:30 p.m.