LAS VEGAS – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball fell behind early against Loyola Marymount University on Friday afternoon and couldn't complete the comeback against the Lions in a 71-64 loss in the second round of the WCC Tournament.
 
The loss ends the Gaels season at 15-15 after finishing fifth in the WCC standings and earning a first-round bye. LMU road the momentum of their 64-54 win over Pepperdine in the first round and jumped out to a big lead. Though the Gaels would trim the Lions double-digit leads down to single digits, including making it a two-point game in the fourth, Saint Mary's was never able to get over the hump to tie the game or capture the lead.
 
EARLY DEFICIT
LMU jumped out to a 7-0 lead against SMC before the first media timeout. The Gaels struggled to hang onto the ball in the first quarter and couldn't establish a rhythm offensively after turning the ball over in three of their first five possessions. Saint Mary's was just 3 for 19 in the opening frame and 0 for 8 on threes, and found themselves down 18-9 going into the second quarter.
 
LMU would increase their lead to 12 with just over four minutes to go in the second quarter. Late baskets by Madeline Holland and Ali Bamberger, along with free throws by Taycee Wedin, trimmed the lead down to six, but LMU got it back to nine at the half at 34-25.  
 
Saint Mary's dramatically improved their shooting in the second quarter by shooting 63.6% from the field and 3 of 5 from downtown, but LMU still shot 54% and were 2 of 4 from deep. The third quarter started like the game did, with LMU scoring the first five points of the half and going on a 10-2 after the Gaels cut it to a six-point deficit late in the second quarter.
 
NO QUIT
The Gaels were down by 15 with just under six minutes to go in the third, but would start a 17-5 run to cut the deficit to three by the end of the quarter, with Wedin and Tayla Dalton hitting some big shots to fire up the Saint Mary's offense.
 
Early in the fourth quarter Holland and Bamberger each hit layups to make it a two-point game at 52-50. But much like earlier in the game when SMC would cut the lead to down to the five-to-seven-point range, they couldn't find a rhythm and get shots to fall after getting within two.
 
After cutting the deficit two two points, the Gaels missed a three and a pair of free throws. Holland made a shot in the paint to keep it a three-point game, but the Gaels missed their next three shots before a Taycee Wedin three cut the LMU lead back down to four at 61-57 with 2:08 remaining.
 
But the Gaels missed their next two shots, committed a turnover, and committed fouls at the other end and it was back to a 10-point lead for the lions with 43 seconds left as LMU outscored Saint Mary's 16-9 after the Gaels cut it to two. The Gaels had been exceptional at hitting their free throws late in games during the season, but were just 3 for 7 at the charity stripe in the fourth on Friday compared to 12 of 17 by the Lions to help them put away the seven-point win.
 
Saint Mary's Women's Basketball had won at least one game at the WCC tournament over the last three seasons, but ran into a young LMU team that played well and played with confidence with five players score in double figures.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Holland finished with 15 points and eight rebounds in her final collegiate game. Wedin led all scorers 18 points and had five rebounds. Bamberger finished with 14 boards and eight points in her first WCC tournament game, and Leia Hanafin led Saint Mary's in assists with four.
 
The Gaels are set to have all of their players return outside of Holland and Brianna Simonich, who had had been injured for most of the season, so they are poised to build off of this year and make a deeper run next season.
 
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