Dynamite down the stretch: Edie Clarke recorded her first double-double in the WCC Tournament. / Photo courtesy WCC Media
Gaels Show Resilience and Grit But Fall to Toreros in Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Championship
Saint Mary’s comes from behind to duel for the lead in the final quarter, but San Diego seals the 66–62 win at the free throw line. SMC’s Abigail Shoff is named all-WCC Honorable Mention.
Resilience and determination have been characteristics all season long for the Saint Mary’s Women’s Basketball team, but the Gaels saw their season come to an end on Thursday in a 66–62 loss to 11-seed San Diego in the Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship.
The Gaels found themselves down by as many as 13 points in the opening quarter, and in true Saint Mary's fashion, clawed all the way back to take numerous two-point leads in the fourth quarter. Malia Latu and Edie Clarke were dynamite for the Gaels in the second half, combining for 21 points over the final two quarters.
Saint Mary’s led 62–61 with 1:55 remaining but finished one for its last seven field goal attempts, while San Diego went five-for-six from the free throw line to seal the narrow four-point victory and advance to the second round of the conference tournament.
Edie Clarke went for 17 points and 11 rebounds for her first career double-double, while Malia Latu came alive in the second half, finishing with a season high 19 points on 47% shooting. Charlece Ohiaeri also enjoyed a nice homecoming, as the Las Vegas native went for seven points and hit a big corner three that helped put the Gaels up 60–59 with 2:45 remaining. Jada Hunter added five points and three rebounds in the Gaels starting lineup.
Gaels Make Their Move, and It Comes Down to the Wire
San Diego came out shooting, hitting five three-pointers to contribute to a 23-point first quarter. The Toreros led by as many as 13 points—but Saint Mary’s consistently showed a capacity to answer early in games, and they did so with back-to-back and-one’s, courtesy of Ella Wedin and Jada Hunter. Wedin snagged an offensive board and put the layup in through contact, while Hunter scored on a driving layup with seven seconds remaining to cut the deficit to ten at the break.
The defense tightened up for the Gaels in the second quarter as they cut the deficit to eight at the half, holding San Diego to eleven points on 27% shooting. The Toreros were just 3-for-11 from the field, while Edie Clarke and Malia Latu carried the load for the Gaels, scoring 11 of the team’s 13 points in the quarter.
Saint Mary’s really made its move in the third quarter, outscoring San Diego 18–11 to find themselves down just one point heading into the fourth. Latu scored the Gaels’ first four points in the quarter to cut the deficit to six. She then put back an acrobatic hook shot through contact minutes later to make it 38–34 with 6:35 left in the quarter. After a defensive stop on the other end featuring a block from Abigail Shoff, Jada Hunter would get downhill in transition and go coast-to-coast for the and-one layup to make it a two-point game.
Saint Mary’s had all the momentum as the third quarter came to a close, including a two-point lead with 57 seconds remaining. But the tide shifted ever so slightly after USD’s Kylie Ray hit a running three-pointer as time expired to swing the Toreros back in front 45–44 going into the fourth.
Both offenses really took off in the fourth quarter, combining for 39 points, which contributed to 15 lead changes in the quarter and multiple lead changes over the final ten minutes. Both teams were trading punches like boxers in the final round, but Saint Mary's hit another costly cold spell, making just one of its final seven field goal attempts, while San Diego sealed the win at the free throw line, finishing the game 5-for-6 over the final two minutes.
Three players scored all 18 points for the Gaels in the fourth: Edie Clarke had seven, Malia Latu had six, Charlece Ohiaeri had five. Head coach Jeff Cammon and his squad have been resilient and gritty all season long, finishing the year with just three defeats in double-figures, compared to 14 games decided by single-digits.
While the game was a heartbreaker, it also saw some notable achievements from the team and individual players. Saint Mary’s recorded a season low five turnovers, its lowest single-game total in the modern stat era, dating back to 2010.
Malia Latu recorded a new season-high 19 points, just two off her career-high. Edie Clarke recorded her first career double-double, with 17 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
Abigail Shoff Named All-WCC Honorable Mention
Saint Mary’s forward Abigail Shoff was named to the All-West Coast Conference Honorable Mention list for her first career all-conference selection, the WCC announced on March 3. Shoff, a six-foot junior who hails from Redding, California, played her first season as a Gael this year—and she emerged as the team’s go-to scorer over the last two months of the regular season, seeing her average climb to a career high 9.6 points per game. She had a streak of nine consecutive double-digit scoring games, running through the penultimate game of the regular season. During that streak, Shoff matched her career high twice with 19 points against both Pacific and San Francisco.
Going into the Credit Union 1 WCC Women's Basketball Championship, Shoff was shooting 41% from the field while averaging four rebounds and nearly a steal and assist per game. Additional season highs include four assists, four steals, eight rebounds and three three-pointers made including a game-tying three to help force overtime in the Gaels’ home finale against San Francisco.
The Gaels finished the season 15–16 while owning the WCC’s best scoring defense and holding opponents to an average of under 60 points per game (59.16 ppg).
