SANTA CLARA, Calif. - What a start for the Gaels to open up WCC play as they came from behind to force overtime and pulled off the thrilling eight point victory over Santa Clara to start conference play 1-0.
Kennedy Johnson was tremendous for the Gaels leading the charge with a season high 25 points and the game tying three pointer to force overtime.
Abigail Shoff had 13 points and four boards and
Zeryhia Aokuso bounced back with eleven points and was a perfect 6-6 from the foul line in overtime to help ice the game.
FIRST HALF SMC 22-22 SCU
The Gaels came out with a zone look defensively as they have shown the ability to play both zone and man throughout the early part of the season. The offense would stumble out of the game yet again as Saint Mary's finished with just eight first quarter points on 3-12 shooting. Santa Clara started the game on an 11-2 run with a pair of three pointers.
After the first media timeout, head coach
Jeff Cammon would have his group switch to man and see an immediate impact with a shot clock violation on the Broncos first possession. The Gaels would follow that up with a 4-0 run as
Kennedy Johnson and
Zeryhia Aokuso converted layups out of the break to stop the bleeding and cut the deficit to five.
The defensive intensity ramped up big time for the Gaels in the second quarter as they forced three turnovers and held Santa Clara to just 20% shooting in the quarter. As a result, the Gaels got out in transition and picked up the pace to get easy layups and high percentage looks in the paint. They started the quarter on a 7-0 run and
Abigail Shoff hit a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 15.
Inside the final minute of the half, the Gaels would get a defensive stop and then find
Melesungu Afeaki inside who made a strong post move to convert the layup and give Saint Mary's a 22-20 lead. The Gaels outscored the Broncos 14-7 in the quarter to overcome an early nine-point deficit and entered the half with the game knotted at 22.
END OF REGULATION SMC 53-53 SCU
Santa Clara was just 6-26 from three on the night but were able to connect on very timely three's to stay within striking distance. The Broncos would hit two three pointers to start the second half and went on an 8-3 run to retake an early five-point lead.
Later in the quarter Saint Mary's would find a groove offensively and respond with an 8-0 run to take a 33-30 lead. The energy and effort on the defensive end was incredibly high during their 8-0 run and the Broncos really struggled to get into their half-court offense and take care of the basketball. Johnson had five of the eight points during the scoring run and then Shoff connected on a pull-up three to give the Gaels a three-point lead.
After forcing a Broncos turnover with 24 seconds remaining, Aokuso would take advantage of an iso opportunity on the final possession of the quarter and convert a reverse layup to give Saint Mary's a 36-34 lead heading into the fourth. The Gaels were 5-13 from the field and hit a pair of three pointers to take a two-point advantage into the final ten minutes of regulation.
Both teams would trade leads early on in the fourth but Santa Clara would go on a 6-1 run inside the final two minutes to take a five-point lead. A tough layup from Malia Latu seemed to potentially ice the game but the Gaels never quit as Shoff finished a tough lefty layup with 39 seconds remaining and then forced a Broncos turnover on the following possession to get the ball back with 21 seconds.
Kennedy Johnson would drive to the paint and draw a foul, allowing her to hit both free throws and make it a one-point game. On the ensuing possession, the Gaels would be forced to foul and send Mia Curtis to the line for a pair of free throws. She would hit both to make it a three-point game with 18 seconds. After a Gaels timeout,
Jeff Cammon would draw up a play for Johnson who peeled off a screen from the elbow and connected on a catch-and-shoot three to tie the game at 53 with nine seconds remaining. The Gaels would force a contested shot on the other end and get the necessary defensive stop to complete the comeback and force overtime for the second time this season.
Saint Mary's never seemed to flinch and their defense kept them in the game until the very last possession as they forced a game-high 14 turnovers in regulation.
OVERTIME SMC 64-56 SCU
Freshman forward
Edie Clarke would win the tip and the Gaels never looked back. They started the overtime period on a 6-0 run with three different scorers and went on to hold the Broncos to just one made field goal and three points.
Offensively, Saint Mary's was just 1-4 from the field but were ultra aggressive and got to the free throw line five different times and went 9-10. After the quick 6-0 run to start the overtime period, Cammon played the matchup game to slow things down and
Zeryhia Aokuso was fed in the post possession after possession. The Broncos did not have an answer for her as she went 6-6 from the charity stripe to finish the night with a season high eleven points.
Despite the bulk of the scoring coming from just three players, the win required a full team effort on both ends of the floor. Saint Mary's held Santa Clara to 34% from the field, just 23% from three and were tremendous in their one-v-one defending forcing a game high 15 turnovers. Cammon continues to put trust in his bench as well as he went eleven players deep and outscored the Broncos bench 18-8.
Kennedy Johnson finished with a season high 25 points, just one point shy of her career record. She also added nine rebounds and three three pointers including the game tying triple to force overtime.
Abigail Shoff was solid all night finishing with 13 points on 50% shooting in 33 minutes of action. The reigning WCC Freshman of the Year
Zeryhia Aokuso, continues to find her footing as she got into double figures for the first time this season and helped ice the game with six made free throws in overtime. Cammon made it a point to feed Aokuso in the post and play off of her down the stretch and as a result she recorded a career high eight assists and also added six rebounds for her best performance of the season.
The Gaels have now won six of their last seven meetings with the Broncos dating back to 2022.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's improves to 5-5 overall and open up conference play with a thrilling overtime victory over Santa Clara. They will return to Moraga for their WCC home opener on Saturday, December 21st against LMU at 2:00 PM. Stream the game live on ESPN+ and get your tickets today at smcgaels.com/tickets.
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