LAS VEGAS – Saint Mary's Women's Basketball was in a back-and-forth, nail biter with LMU until the final two minutes of the contest, before the Lions won 78-62 to eliminate the Gaels from the WCC Tournament.
 
SMC trailed just 66-60 with 2:28 left to play after an Ali Bamberger breakaway layup that was created by a Tayla Dalton steal. But Saint Mary's struggled to hit their shots at the end while LMU got baskets from their role players to stretch out their lead and clinch the win.
 
The Gaels were again playing shorthanded with just eight players available, as Emily Foy had to remain back in Moraga, Calif. with an illness. SMC led by two with under a minute to go in the third quarter, in a game with six lead changes and three ties.
 
Saint Mary's led 18-15 after a quarter, but were having trouble defending Lions sharp shooter Nicole Rodriguez. LMU held teams to just 30% shooting from beyond the three-point line on the year, and made it difficult for the Gaels to even get good looks, as Saint Mary's was 3 for 9 on the day from deep.
 
The largest lead of the day for SMC was six points, which they first achieved on a Hannah Rapp put back at the 4:05 mark of the first, and then on a Maia Jones turnaround jumper with 1:40 to go in the opening quarter. But LMU took the lead at 28-26 with 2:17 remaining in the half.
 
The Gaels would reclaim the lead when Zeryhia Aokuso went on a run of her own. She tied the game at 39-39 with a layup, gave SMC the lead with a pair of free throws, and extended the lead to 43-39 with 3:17 to go in the third. But LMU would hit three straight threes and lead 48-47 going into the fourth and would never relinquish it.
 
LMU would go 8 of 11 (72.7%) from the floor, 2 of 4 on threes, and 12 for 14 on free throws in the fourth to extend their lead and close out the win. That hot shooting for the Lions compared to the Gaels' 5 of 15 (33.3%) overall, 1 for 1 from deep, and 4 of 6 at the line and whey they were able to pull away late.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Maia Jones led the Gaels with 21 points, while Aokuso had 15 with five assists and seven rebounds. Bamberger finished with 12 points with five assists and Tayla Dalton led all players in steals with four.
 
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