MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball stormed back from a double-digit halftime deficit to defeat North Carolina A&T, 73-65 on day one of the Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic.
 
The Gaels trailed by 10 points at the half, but shot 57.7% in the second half, with four players finishing the game in double figures scoring. The Aggies only loss this season was to Georgia, and they've had big wins over Wake Forest and Liberty.
 
SMC jumped out to an early lead, going up 11-5 at the first media time out, but the Aggies went on a 10-0 run to finish the quarter up 15-11. It remained right around a five-point edge for N.C. A&T for most of the second quarter, before they went on a run in the final three minutes of the half.
 
The deficit ballooned up to 11 with just over a minute to go in the second quarter, and the Gaels found themselves down 13 with 51 seconds to go in the first half. But Ali Bamberger would come up with a steal to give Saint Mary's one more crack at a good shot. They would get that on a three pointer from Tayla Dalton at the buzzer, after Addison Wedin set her up with a nifty feed to take a little momentum into the break, even though they trailed 32-22.
 
TALE OF TWO HALVES
Saint Mary's shot just 29.6% in the first half to N.C. A&T's 56.5%, but the Gaels' defense would flip the script in the second half. The big momentum shift came just four minutes into the third quarter, when Leia Hanafin stole the ball and started a fast break the other way. She would set up freshman Zeryhia Aokuso with a layup and a foul, as Aokuso converted the three-point play to cut it to just a 38-34 Aggies lead.
 
With a little over a minute to go in the third, the Gaels would get their first lead since they were up 11-9 with 3:39 to go in the first quarter. After Hanafin and Hannah Rapp combined to force a turnover, Dalton would again hit a huge three pointer to put Saint Mary's ahead 46-45, and the Gaels would never trail again.
 
SMC committed four less turnovers than the Aggies in the second half, and scored 24 points off of those turnovers via 10 steals in the final two quarters. The Gaels would extend their lead to as many as 19 points on a Rapp three pointer with 5:43 left to play.
 
The Aggies would get the lead down to seven, however, making it a 69-62 game with 1:10 remaining, as the Gaels did make five turnovers of their own in the fourth when North Carolina A&T turned up the pressure to try and mount a comeback.
 
A Bamberger layup settled things down for Saint Mary's though, and Hanafin would hit a pair of free throws in the final 30 seconds to ice the win for the Gaels.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The four Gaels to finish in double figures scoring were Bamberger with 22, Rapp with 19, Dalton with 16, and Aokuso with 11. Bamberger was 7 of 12 from the floor, including 3 of 5 from deep and a perfect 5 for 5 at the charity stripe.
 
Dalton was 3 of 4 from downtown, and Rapp was 6 of 11 from the field, including 2 of 3 behind the three-point line. Hanafin set a career-high in steals with seven, and led all players with six assists.
 
Saint Mary's forced 17 steals in total to just three by the Aggies, as the Gaels won the turnover battle 22-14. SMC shot a whopping 70% (7 of 10) from the field in the fourth quarter, and were 4 of 8 from three-point range in the second half.
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will wrap up the Thanksgiving Classic by taking on Illinois State at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.