SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – SMC's Ali Bamberger was named to the WCC All-Academic Team, and five of her teammates made Honorable Mention. The Gaels were one of three teams in the conference – Gonzaga and Pacific being the other two – to have six players make the list.
 
ALL ACADEMIC
Bamberger has been the Gaels starting center the past three seasons and has a perfect 4.00 as a grad student this year in the Kinesiology Program. She was fantastic academically as an undergrad as well as an applied science major. She had Averaging 10.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game this season, and shot a career-high 47.4% from the field and 34% from downtown for her most efficient season at SMC.
 
HONORABLE MENTION
Tayla Dalton had a 3.842 GPA as a business administration major. The Gaels "spark plug" averaged 10.3 points per game this season while shooting a career-high 37.5% on threes. She only missed three games this year and that was to play for Team New Zealand in Olympic Qualifiers. The Auckland native became just 20th New Zealand-born player to score over 900 points at the Division-1 level in WBB.
 
Leia Hanafin earned a 3.238 GPA as a business administration major. This season she was second in the WCC in steals and steals per game and shot a career-high 34.1% on threes. Her 138 career steals are good for 10th all time in program history.
 
Makena Mastora had a 3.555 GPA as a BA major as well. She averaged a career-high 7.4 points per game this season and shot a career-best 35.3% from three-point range. She scored a career-high 26 points this December vs. Cal State East Bay.
 
Fellow business administration major Hannah Rapp had a 3.663 GPA. She scored a career-high 19 points this season against North Carolina A&T, and is averaging a personal best 71.4% at the free-throw line.
 
Addison Wedin had a 3.531 GPA as a psychology major. She averaged 6.5 points per game in 20 games played with 15 starts, and had scored in double figures in three of her last four games before a season-ending knee injury.
 
The Gaels are gearing up for the WCC Tournament that begins this Friday for them at 2:30 p.m. for their second-round game against LMU at the Orleans Arena.
 
#GaelsRise