Photos by Tod Fierner
MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary’s secured their third-straight West Coast Conference victory on Thursday as they defeated Pepperdine 85-78 in head coach Paul Thomas‘ 500th career win.
KEEP ON RUNNING
The Gaels ended the first half of action on a 10-0 run including a buzzer-beater layup from Sam Simons. The run was good for their largest run of the contest as they held the Waves from scoring for over three minutes of play. Sam Simons and Taycee Wedin each put up nine points during the first half to lead the team. Jordyn Boesel and Emily Codding also added points of their own during the Gaels’ run which helped turn a 37-33 deficit into a 43-37 lead.
SHINING FROM DEEP
Saint Mary’s had a solid performance from beyond-the-arc in the contest as they made 12 of their 21 total three-pointer attempts. Taycee Wedin led the team from that category as 18 of her career-high 21 points came from deep (6-7 3FG). Simons followed suit as she posted three treys of her own. Katie Rathbun also pitched in a pair of three-pointers as she was just one away from tying her career-high of three. The Gaels held Pepperdine to just 39 percent from the three-point line throughout the game.
AT THE BASKET
Emily Codding had a strong defensive performance in the rebounding department as she reached a career-high 13 rebounds during the contest. Alongside Coddings’ 13 rebounds, three other Gaels put up five boards of their own to help SMC outrebound Pepperdine 41-30. SMC proved to shine from the free-throw line during the contest as well as the Gaels shot 90 percent while going 18-for-20 to contribute to one of their best performances from the charity stripe. Simons led the team in that respective category as she went 6-for-6 while Simonich made six of her eight attempts, which is good for both of their best free-throw performances of the season.
QUOTABLE
When asked about his 500th career win, head coach Paul Thomas stated, “I have had a lot of good people, mainly players that have been around, and I am extremely grateful and humbled that I have been able to coach all of them. In my 28 years of coaching, there has been a lot of people that I have been fortunate enough to work with.”
