PHOENIX – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball is ready to tip off the 2023-24 season, opening on the road at Grand Canyon University on Monday and playing their home opener against UC San Diego on Sunday. It will be the first meeting against either program for SMC.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (0-0) at Grand Canyon (0-0)
Monday, November 6 at 3:00 p.m.
GCU Arena – Phoenix     
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Saint Mary's (0-0) vs. UC San Diego (0-0)
Sunday, November 11 at 1:00 p.m.
UCU Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.     
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SEASON OUTLOOK
Saint Mary's returns starters Ali Bamberger, Tayla Dalton, Leia Hanafin, and Hannah Rapp from last season. Bamberger was named to the WCC All-Preseason Team earlier this week after making WCC All-First Team for the second straight season last year. She averaged 14.2 ppg and 8.4 rpg to lead the Gaels, and finish ninth and third in the WCC respectively.
 
The Gaels did lose the WCC's all-time leading three-point shooter in Taycee Wedin, as she finished her college career with 407 threes. They also saw regular rotation members and contributors graduate in Jade Kirisome, Clair Steele, and Amy West.
 
But the team added five new players to the fold in Emily Foy, Ruby Vlahov, Zeryhia-Lee Aokuso, Nadia Bernard, and Maia Jones now being eligible to play. They plan to make up for Wedin's outside shooting and spreading out the defense with several players getting the opportunity for more shots from the perimeter and mid-range.
 
Coach Cammon comes to the Gaels after he was named The Big West Coach of the Year for leading the Long Beach State to their first 20-win season since 2016-17. They won 15-straight games from January 12 to March 2, the longest in the Big West last year. The team's 17 Big West wins were the most conference victories since 1988-89 and Cammon's teams are coming off back-to-back WNIT appearances.
 
ABOUT GCU
GCU was picked first in the WAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, garnering six of the other 10 conference coaches' first-place nods to edge Southern Utah in voting.
 
GCU senior guard/forward Tiarra Brown and junior guard Trinity San Antonio were selected to the Preseason All-WAC Team. Brown, San Antonio and Preseason Player of the Year Breaunna Gillen of Utah Tech return from being on last season's postseason All-WAC first team.
 
Brown averaged 11.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 26.4 minutes per game for last season's 21-10 Lopes. The 5-foot-9 Spanaway, Washington, native also made the WAC's All-Defensive Team, recorded two double-doubles and hit career-high shooting percentages from the field (47.2%) and 3-point range (32.5%).

With 870 career points, Brown is on pace to become the program's second Division I-era player to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
 
San Antonio, a transfer from California Baptist, led the Lancers last season with 14.1 points per game while also averaging 5.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game. The 5-foot-10 Moreno Valley, California, native recorded the CBU program's first NCAA-era triple-double against Utah Tech and played for the Puerto Rico national team this summer.
 
ABOUT UCSD
UC San Diego returns seven Tritons from the 2022-23 squad, including starters Izzy Forsyth and Parker Montgomery. Forsyth was an All-Big West honorable mention a season ago, recognized alongside sophomore Junae Mahan (All-Freshman Team). The Tritons will have big shoes to fill after the graduation of Sydney Brown, Emily Cangelosi and Julia Macabuhay who started all games for UC San Diego a season ago.
 
The Tritons added three incoming true freshmen and four transfer scholar-athletes for the 2023-24 season. La Jolla Country Day product Sumayah Sugapong (San Diego, Calif.) joins two international Tritons, Eri Blithikioti (Athens, Greece) and Erin Condron (Woodend, Victoria, Australia) to make up the freshman class. Gracie Gallegos (Denver, Colo.) will also see her first action as a Triton after redshirting the 2022-23 campaign. 
 
UC San Diego added four transfer students to its roster as well, including junior Meaali'i Amosa (Pepperdine), Rosa Smith (Idaho), Damilola Sule (UC Merced) and Emma Svoboda (Oklahoma).

UC San Diego was picked to finish tied for fifth in the 2023-24 Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll with 59 points. Hawai'i was picked to finish first with six of the 11 first-place votes (95 points). Defending Big West champion UC Irvine was picked to finish second with two first-place votes (88 points) and UC Davis rounded out the top three with three first-place votes (85 points).
 
#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.