St Marys has played the Cal women tough in recent meetings. The Gaels are 6-4 but I believe that they're better than their record. They have three key players in 5-9 senior SG Taycee Wedin, 6-3 RS soph C Ali Bamberger (from Carondelet) & 5-11 senior SF/wing Maddy Holland (from Archbishop Mitty). They also have two guards that are good in 5-9 RS junior, Jade Kirisome, from Australia & 5-9 frosh Makena Mastora from St Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda.

2021-2022 Saint Mary's College of California Women's Basketball (PDF) - SMC California Athletics (smcgaels.com)

I watched Holland for four years at AM in San Jose. She was good at everything. She played high post and was second in rebounding, she played PG on occasion, was a dead-eye three point shooter and high percentage free throw shooter. Her skill set was similar to all-american Haley Jones, Stanford star, but she lacked the elite athleticism and speed.

Maddy Holland has a 54.9 FG%, is a 47.1% 3 PT shooter, is a 100% on her free throws, is the Gael's 2nd best rebounder (4.1 per game) and statistically their best ball handler (20 assists vs 13 turnovers). She missed three games due to injury and St Marys lost those. One of the losses was at Utah (8-2) by 42 points. The Gaels lost by 27 at #3 North Carolina State but played without their top scorer, SG Taycee Wedin.

In their last game, St Marys upset an undefeated team, Coastal Carolina (8-1), in South Carolina. Taycee Wedin hit a three pointer beyond the top of the key at the buzzer for the win.
2021-22 Women's Basketball Roster - SMC California Athletics (smcgaels.com)

I'm worried about this game because Cal has not been playing well lately (IMO). The Bear's turnovers have jumped up to 18-19 per game and their defense has been porous. Cal is near the bottom of the Pac 12 in points per game given up. It appears that St Marys has been putting their game together with the return of Holland & Wedin. The Gaels have a strong post presence in Bamberger and a couple of three point shooters with in excess of 40% accuracy. Both of those areas have been weak spots for the Bears on defense.

I anticipate a very close game. St Marys has been outscored this season by exactly three points per game. They are not good on defense either, yielding 69.5 ppg. The team that plays the best defense will likely emerge victorious. Cal has won 3 out of its last 4 games while St Marys has captured 4 of its last 5...

GO BEARS!

I remember watching Bamberger's dad play in high school. They won the state championship that year.

Most of the St. Mary's games have been close. I sure hope Cailyn and Jazlen are healthy enough to play.

Cailyn and Jazlen both warming up.

I remember the St. Mary's game when our final 4 team played them very early in that season. We completely dominated and that was the first glimpse that team was heading for something special.

Can someone explain to me how to get the livestream to be live? Every time I modify it, the game starts over and I cannot find a way to go back to live action. Thank you.

Jayden had trouble defending the St Mary,s bigs. Dalayah is doing better.

Evelien has 12 points after one quarter. St Mary's has too many threes.

@bearchamp just refresh the web page but you have to sit through the ads again. This bug has been here for several weeks now- you go to full size screen and it kicks you off to the ads.

It would be nice to hit a three. Jazlen hasn't played.

Evelien and Dalayah have 24 points.

Jayda isn't scoring but has 5 rebounds.

Cailyn got 2 fouls and didn' t play much. Alma and Mia got a lot of minutes. Michelle got 2 fouls in what seemed like less than a minute.

So far our defense is looking good. If we can hit a few outside shots we should win.

Curry has one point for the half. 6 shots (3 threes, 3 not-threes).
That's not going to last!

But, ELS with 16 on 8-11 shooting. wow.

Bears 0-4 from deep and that likely has to change for the Bears to prevail.

No Green.

Daniels and ELS playing well. Curry is frustrated and led to her 2nd foul. Let's see how she reacts in the 2nd half.

Cal picked up their defensive intensity in Q2. They'll need that going forward.

Jadya hit a couple of shots and Dalaysh is back in.

We got some awful bounces under our own basket. Hope that evens out.

A blown layup and 2 St Mary's threes put them right back in the game. Cal lead cut to 8.

2 steals and 2 fast breaks and we'reback up by 15!

Is Heide not playing because she is hurt?

and the Bears win. 73-55
Curry ends up with...18 (7-9 from the line)
ELS with 20 and 10 rebounds
Daniels with 14
Only 12 turnovers for the game.

Holland - the Gael's sharpshooter was not sharp/well defended. 11 points on 3-11 shooting and 0-2 from deep.

I love watching this team play. I've said it before but will say it again... imagine the damage we can do next year if everyone stays healthy.

The stats show we had 14 steals and 18 points off turnovers. We also had 18 assists on 27 baskets.

St Mary's got a lot of hustle rebounds but at the cost of not getting back on defense quickly enough.

stu said:

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Yep. Now we have some guards and some experience. IMHO we always had the coach.

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Agree. Plus, we got this double-digit win without Jazzy. She was dressed but I'm guessing Charmin held her out as a precautionary measure. We need her for Pac-12 play.

this team is capable of going 'small' with Daniels and Evelien, and play 'positionless basketball'

probably won't be able to do that as much in Pac12 play, but it seems to be our best lineup

Who is gone next year and who is new coming in ?

Our defense was really good. Had a slight lapse giving up 2 3's but picked right up. Alma came in early and probably had a +8.

Evelien was the difference in the first quarter and Dalayah the third.

Really good win as our 3 point shooting was non existent. Jazzy was dressed but did not go in. Not sure why Sela was not put in when Ornella went in with us up by 17 or so with 2 minutes left.

3Cats4CAL said:

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Who is gone next year and who is new coming in ?

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Jadyn Bush is a graduate transfer and likely gone. Sierra Richey is a grad student and likely gone.
I think Karisma Ortiz still can play next year if her grad program has a second year. (She is listed as a grad student - she has one year at Penn State, a redshirt transfer no play year at Texas and a COVID year at Texas, then this injury year, so she, technically, I think, has 3 years of eligibility. I just don't know how long she can stay a student!)

Amaya Bonner is the only signed commit at present, of which I am aware.