SEATTLE – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball will take on the Washington Huskies for the final time as a member of the Pac-12 on Saturday, before coming home to host Cal State East Bay on Monday.
 
The Gaels will get the full spectrum in competition over the next two games, taking on the undefeated Huskies of the Pac-12, and the NCAA Division II Pioneers.
 
SMC is 1-3 all time against the Huskies, with the win coming in the most recent meeting between the two, as the Gaels won 91-81 on November 8, 2013 in Moraga, Calif. Saint Mary's center Ali Bamberger returns to play at Washington for the first time since she was a member of the Huskies as a freshman.
 
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Bamberger scored 106 points that lone season with UW, and when she crossed 1,000 career points in the second game of this season, she and her father Eric Bamberger became just the second father-daughter tandem in NCAA Division-I history to score 1,000 points in their career, as Eric scored 1,225 points at Saint Mary's. Brad Sellers' 1,960 points at Wisconsin and Ohio State and his daughter Shayla Sellers' 1,030 points and counting at Purdue Fort Wayne are the only other D1 father-daughter combo with 1,000 points.
 
She enters Saturday's contest with 985 points as a Gael, and if she crosses 1,000 points at SMC, Ali and Eric will become the only father-daughter combo to score 1,000 points at the same institution in NCAA D1 history. Saint Mary's will honor the two of them before the home game that follows Bamberger crossing 1,000 points at SMC.
 
The meeting with the Pioneers will be the first meeting with the program since the school changed its name Cal State Cal State East Bay, as they were still Cal State Hayward when the programs last met in 1989. The Gaels are 3-0 in their history against the Pioneers.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (4-6) at Washington (10-0)
Saturday, December 16 at 1:00 p.m.
Alaska Airlines Arena – Seattle    
WATCH | LIVE STATS |
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (4-6) vs. CSU East Bay (4-5)
Monday, December 18 at 6:30 p.m.
UCU Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.    
WATCH | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
 
LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's Women's Basketball fell behind by double digits midway through the second quarter and weren't able to comeback against UC Davis in an 87-66 loss to the Aggies on Sunday afternoon.
 
UC Davis shot 55.6% in the game to SMC's 44.6% and had a 35-23 rebounding advantage over the Gaels, as the Aggies would beat Saint Mary's to loose balls or long rebounds.
 
ABOUT WASHINGTON
Washington is receiving votes in the latest AP Top 25 Poll and USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll. The Huskies 10-game win streak to start the season is the longest win streak to open a season since the Huskies went 10-0 to begin the 1997-98 campaign. It's the third time in program history Washington has gone 10-0 to start the season. The 10 wins is also tied for fifth on the list of longest win streaks in program history.
 
The win at No. 21 Washington State last Sunday was Washington's first win in Pullman since December 29, 2019, and the first time UW had defeated a ranked opponent on the road since they won at No. 19 Arizona State on January 15, 2017.
 
ABOUT CAL STATE EAST BAY
Payton Sterk scored a career-high 36 points on Saturday in Pomona, Calif. as she made seven shots from beyond the arc, tying a Pioneer record. The 36 points was the most by a single player in a game for CSUEB since joining the CCAA in 2009. Her performance earned her CCAA Player of the Week honors. 
 
Camryn Washington scored the driving layup on Saturday that put the Pioneers ahead with 5.3 seconds remaining and finished with 12 points and six assists. She leads the Pioneers in assists (29). She is sixth in the CCAA in assists and seventh in assists per game (3.2).
 
Junior Abigail Cooper from Portland, Ore. is seventh in the CCAA in points per game (6.1). She is tenth in the CCAA in assists (25) and had three steals in last Saturday's win. 
 
#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.