MORAGA, Calif. - Jeff Cammon and the Saint Mary's women host Washington State on Thursday night in a matchup of teams tied for second place in the WCC. 

A month ago, it would have been hard to foresee the Gaels ranking that high in the conference standings.

Saint Mary's ended non-conference play with a 4-5 record and on a three-game skid after a 71-68 loss to Cal Baptist in Moraga on Dec. 7. The Gaels had nearly two weeks off before starting WCC play at Santa Clara on Dec. 19. Cammon used that extended time off to help his players improve their mindsets.

"I think a lot of times when things start to snowball, it's because you're living in the past and you're letting what happened impact the future," Cammon said. 

"We're a next-play mentality. We did a good job of coming in and saying, 'We're going to leave that in the past and focus on the future.' "

Sophomore guard Maia Jones said the Gaels became complacent following wins over Eastern Washington (59-57) and Louisiana-Monroe (68-61) in Honolulu in late November. 
"I think after the Hawaii games," Jones said, "we looked ahead at like, 'These are some games that we can win,' not just the first one but all three of them – and obviously we didn't. So, then we changed our mindset to process-driven and just taking it one game at a time."

Beyond a mindset shift, the Gaels clearly have benefited from the play of guard Zeryhia Aokuso. The sophomore missed the first four games of the season while recovering from knee surgery; she earlier had endured a stress fracture in her foot.

When Aokuso returned, Cammon understandably limited her minutes as she played no more than nine in her first five games. The Amarillo, Texas, native has played at least 28 minutes in each of the past five games – and it's probably more than a coincidence that the Gaels have gone 4-1.

That stretch began with Aokuso scoring 11 points and dishing out eight assists in the Gaels' 64-56 overtime win at the Leavey Center in the conference opener.

"We talked about belief, (being) process-driven," Cammon said, referring to the lead-up to the Santa Clara victory. "Those are the things we talked about. And now (the win) adds to that, 'Oh, I do believe. We can do this.' It does breed some confidence."

Said Jones: "Especially an overtime win, it's just such a relief." Saint Mary's picked up another overtime road win against Pacific on Dec. 28. Aokuso hit a tying layup with 15 seconds left in the extra period, then dropped home a buzzer-beating jumper from the right side of the lane to enable the Gaels to celebrate an 80-78 decision.

Aokuso returned to the starting lineup for that game against the Tigers. That pushed Jones from a starter into a reserve role. 

"It's not because she's not good enough to start," Cammon said of Jones, who's averaging 11.4 points per game, second on the team to guard Kennedy Johnson (13.6). "I think it's just more of a strategic thing. (Jones) means a ton to us."

The New Zealander responded by scoring a team-high 23 points off the bench in Stockton. Cammon called Jones a "three-level" scorer and he also praised her basketball IQ.

That hoops intelligence is a family affair. Jones' father, Phill, had his No. 13 retired by the Nelson Giants of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL) and was inducted into the New Zealand Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022. Her mother, Kat, also played professionally and is a longtime coach.

"There's a lot of insight with having parents who've played professionally," Jones said. "Having them as coaches has really helped me on the mental side of basketball."
Jones has a younger brother, Hayden, who's a guard and has committed to play at Wisconsin next season. Younger sister Ava also is a highly regarded prospect.

Meanwhile, Maia and the Gaels are getting set to face the Cougars (9-7, 4-1). Saint Mary's will need to do a better job of taking care of the basketball than it did in its previous game, an 87-73 loss at USF last Thursday. The Dons, who lead the conference with a 5-0 record, scored 28 points off the Gaels' 18 turnovers.

Washington State and Oregon State, the Pac-2 of the former Pac-12, have joined the WCC for this season and the next one. Cammon said that when he first heard the news of the additions of WSU and OSU, he thought, 'That just made things a lot tougher for us.' "

Upon further reflection, Cammon said, "I'm excited that they're here. … With the teams we had in our conference, it was already tough. But to bring those (teams) in, it does bring an extra level of competitiveness and forces us to raise the bar – even though that's what we try to do, anyway."

WCC women's standings

Team                               Conf.        Overall
USF                                  5-0              8-6
Saint Mary's                      4-1              8-6
WSU                                 4-1              9-7
Portland                            4-2             15-2
Gonzaga                           4-2              9-8
OSU                                  3-2              7-9
Pacific                               2-3              6-9
Santa Clara                       2-4              8-8
Pepperdine                       1-4               6-8
LMU                                  0-5               6-7
San Diego                         0-5              4-10

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