PORTLAND, Ore. – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball took down last season's WCC Tournament Champs with a 73-67 overtime win over the Portland Pilots on Monday afternoon.
 
The game was worth the wait for the Gaels, after their flight to Portland was canceled last Wednesday, and the game was rescheduled from Thursday evening to Monday afternoon due to a series of winter storms in the Pacific Northwest.
 
The Gaels handed Portland just their second WCC loss of the season by forcing the Pilots into 13 second-half turnovers – 25 overall – and getting a big offensive game from Zaryhia Aokuso who finished with a career-high 24 points.
 
Aokuso go off to a hot start, scoring six of the Gaels first eight points of the game. Saint Mary's as a whole was on fire in the first, going 8 for 11 from the floor and leading 18-16 after the opening quarter.
 
The second quarter was much sloppier, with the Gaels going 5 of 12 from the floor and Portland just 3 of 15. SMC would commit seven turnovers and Portland had four while winning the quarter 16-12. But Emily Foy would hit a corner three after Aokuso found her after getting through a double team at the before the buzzer for just a 32-30 Pilots lead at the half.
 
A back-and-fourth third quarter saw the Gaels reclaim the lead, after an Addison Wedin three made it a two-point game, and Hannah Rapp tied it up at 39-39 on a pull-up jumper with 4:05 to go in the third.
 
REBOUNDS VS. TURNOVERS
Portland would still lead by three after three quarters, but the groundwork was laid for Saint Mary's after forcing eight turnovers by the Pilots in the third while committing just one of their own.
 
SMC trailed by four with 3:41 to go, but Wedin would again cut it to two, and Tayla Dalton scored on a smooth hesitation move in the lane for a layup to tie the game at 57-57 with 2:10 remaining.
 
Portland snapped a scoring drought of over two minutes to go back up 59-57 with 1:15 to go. Ali Bamberger tied the game again with a pair of free throws before the Pilots went ahead again.
 
Aokuso hit a floater in the lane to tie the game again with 25 seconds left, and the Gaels made a big stop at the buzzer – and avoided committing a foul – to force overtime.
 
Portland had a 66-63 lead when Bamberger drew a foul and hit two more free throws, to cut it to one in just over three minutes in to overtime. The Pilots had a 49-31 advantage in rebounds in the game, with 25 offensive rebounds alone that gave them a 30-4 advantage in second-chance points. But Bamberger grabbed the biggest rebound of the game to prevent Portland having another second-chance opportunity, and instead set up Rapp for a three pointer to take a 68-66 lead.

Rapp would grab a big defensive rebound of her own after a missed three by Portland, and Tayla Dalton would draw a foul and hit both free throws. Leia Hanafin would get the rebound after the Gaels next stop and set up Dalton for two more free throws to ice the game and give SMC their biggest win of the season.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Each team only made one field goal in OT, but the Gaels' make was Rapp's three and they were 9 of 10 from the free-throw line in the extra frame.
 
Four Gaels scored in double figures, led by Aokuso's 24 points on 10 of 17 shooting. Bamberger finished with 12 points, Wedin had 13, and Dalton finished with 10. Hanafin would lead the team in rebounds with eight.
 
Though the Pilots had the big advantage in second-chance points, Saint Mary's had a 25-13 advantage in points off turnovers, a 14-7 advantage in fast break points, and a 12-8 advantage in bench scoring.
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will make the short trip to Stockton, Calif. to take on the second-place Pacific Tigers on Thursday, January 25 at 6:30 p.m.
 
#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.