MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball lost a heartbreaker to Pacific in the regular season finale on Saturday, as a rough fourth quarter led to a 68-53 loss.
 
The Gaels finished seventh in the conference standings since they own the tie breaker with Santa Clara, and will play LMU on Thursday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m.
 
The first three quarters of Saturday's game were very evenly matched between the two teams, which was to be expected with the same overall record and just a one-game difference in the WCC standings.
 
Saint Mary's led by three at the half and were shooting almost 10 percent better than Pacific, with a 24-19 rebounding advantage. But things began to turn in the third. The Tigers shot nine percent better than the Gaels and had a 10-8 rebounding advantage to lead by one going into the fourth.
 
Pacific would jump out to an eight-point lead just a minute into the fourth before SMC called a timeout. An Ali Bamberger layup and free throw chopped it right back down to five with the three-point play.
 
But a 9-0 run by the Tigers would make it 57-43 LMU with 6:30 to go leading to another Saint Mary's timeout. That stoppage would not stem the tide this time, as the Gaels missed a three out of the time out and UOP extended the lead to 17 at 61-44 with just under five minutes remaining.
 
A Taycee Wedin layup on a perfect pass from Bamberger cut it to 13 at 61-48 with 3:40 to go. But the Gaels would struggle to make shots while the Tigers would hit from the field and free-throw line to right back up 18 with a minute-and-a-half left.
 
The Tigers shot 57.1% in the fourth to the Gaels 26.3%, went 2 for 5 from downtown to Saint Mary's 1 for 7, and shot 9 of 10 from the charity stripe. The Gaels lost the rebounding battle 13-8 in the fourth.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Wedin led the team with 15 points, and hit three more three pointers to give her 399 in her career. Bamberger also scored in double figures with 12 points and had 11 rebounds. Leia Hanafin set a career high in blocked shots with three.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will play in round one of the WCC Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. They will play the LMU Lions at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 2.