MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball heads into the second week of the 2023-24 season set to host UC Irvine on Tuesday and travel to Texas to take on Rice on Sunday.
 
The Gaels are 2-1 all time against the Anteaters, with their last meeting being a 67-64 win in 2020 in Irvine, Calif. SMC will be playing Rice for just the third time in program history, and the first time ever in Houston. The teams split the previous two meetings against each other, which came two decades apart in 1992 and 2022.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (1-1) vs. UC Irvine (1-1)
Tuesday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m.
UCU Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.    
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Saint Mary's (1-1) at Rice (2-1)
Sunday, November 19 at 12:00 p.m.
Tudor Field House – Houston
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LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's Women's Basketball held on for an 61-58 win in overtime against UC San Diego in their home opener on Sunday afternoon to get their first win of the season. It was Head Coach Jeff Cammon's first win at Saint Mary's and it included Ali Bamberger crossing the 1,000-point mark in her career.
 
The game went to overtime, where the Tritons scored first. But reigning WCC Freshman of the Week Zeryiah-Lee Aokuso couldn't be stopped in the extra frame, scoring nine of the Gaels 10 points in O.T.  She converted a three-point play after a drive to the basket to break the final tie of the contest and put SMC up 58-55.
 
Bamberger had a huge basket in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 49-49 with 38 seconds left, and would sink to clutch free throws with 6.7 seconds left to put the Gaels up 61-55 to seal the win for Saint Mary's.
 
ABOUT UC IRVINE
The UC Irvine women's basketball team was picked to finish second in the 2023-24 Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll, while Nikki Tom was named to the preseason all-conference team.
 
The Anteaters, who won the 2022-23 Big West regular season title, were predicted to place among the top-three in the league for the fifth time in the last six years. They earned two of the 11 first-place votes and 88 total points to come in behind Hawai'i, which took the top spot with 95 points (six first-place votes).
 
Tom secured her first preseason honor after earning All-Big West honorable mention recognition last season. As a sophomore, Tom logged 35.7 minutes per outing, which led the team and ranked third in the conference. She started every game, averaging 8.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 steals.
 
Overall, UCI welcomes back 10 letter winners from a historic 2022-23 season that saw the program's first Big West championship, first national postseason tournament victory and a school-record 25 wins.
 
UC Irvine added four newcomers ahead of the 2023-24 season. Redshirt freshman Clara Djoko joined the team from France last December. As a midseason addition, Djoko was on the bench for the Anteaters' historic run, but did not play. The 'Eaters will also add true freshmen Shirel Nahum and Haley Hernandez, while bringing in graduate transfer Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba. Sidi Baba, who is from Sweden, spent the previous four years at the University of Miami.
 
ABOUT RICE
Junior forward Malia Fisher was selected to the Preseason All-American Athletic Conference Second Team, and the Owls were predicted to finish third in their inaugural season in the AAC.
 
Fisher was second on the team in scoring a season ago averaging 11.8 points per game while leading the team with 6.3 rebounds per game. She had a team-high five double-doubles while reaching double-digit points in 18 games.
 
She had a career high 20 rebounds and 18 points against SFA and a career high 22 points and 11 rebounds against Louisiana Tech. Fisher shot 48.2% from the floor and led the team in three-point shooting with 37.8%. She was selected to the 2023 All-Conference USA Second Team last season.
 
Head coach Lindsay Edmonds enters her third season at the helm of the Owls. Rice is coming off the best start in program history (9-0) and a WNIT Second Round appearance last season, defeating BYU on the road in the opening round.
 
#GaelsRise — 2023-24 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.