| | Published December 7th, 2011
| Saint Mary's Women's Basketball Looks Good at Home
| | By Brandon Duran |  | | Jackie Nared #3 Photo Tod Fierner
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Saint Mary's was picked to finish fifth in the WCC preseason poll. Despite a slow start, the Gaels are 5-2. Part of the slow start may be attributed to the loss of Louella Tomlinson. Tomlinson blocked more shots than any other player in Division I women's basketball history and is SMC's all-time leading scorer. The Gaels only had two returning two starters, senior guard Jasmine Smith and junior guard Kate Gaze.
SMC opened on the road against a tough #19 DePaul, losing 68-96. Inconsistency continued to be the theme in the first six games of the season. The Gaels broke even, going 3-3 before returning home to host the win-less (0-8) William Jessup Warriors on Tuesday, November 29.
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the Warriors behind a team effort-four different players scored for the Gaels.
Freshman center Carli Rosenthal scored the next six points for the Gaels, taking advantage of their frontcourt size.
Around the 10 minute mark, Jessup made a run with a string of field goals off of Saint Mary's turnovers, to get the 13 point deficit down to eight points. However, playing as more of a team helped SMC build a 47-21 lead heading into half.
Saint Mary's redshirt sophomore guard, Jackie Nared, a transfer from the University of Maryland, led SMC in scoring with 12 points at the break.
The Gaels came out in the second looking to continue their dominance inside and get more production from the bench.
As in the first half, WJU started slow, scoring its first field goal 5:15 into the second. From that point on the Saint Mary's bench took over. Combining for 21 second half points, the bench got some crucial experience heading into the upcoming conference play.
Saint Mary's won by a score of 82-43, behind Nared's 17 points. Rosenthal posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
The Gaels dominated the inside game. "That's always our game plan, to get the ball in the paint. Either passing the ball into our post players or driving the ball in there with our guards, and I think he had a good combination tonight," said head coach Paul Thomas.
Although the Gaels controlled the game against WJU, they average 23.7 turnovers a game. Nared commented that this needs to change if the Gaels want to be competitive.
"We are kind of careless with the ball at times, but I think as we grow as a team and get to know each other and how each other plays more then we will get better," Nared said.
The Gaels overcame their turnover troubles by going 19-22 from the free throw line this past Sunday night to beat the Cal Poly Mustangs in a tight game down the stretch, 65-62. Saint Mary's (5-3) has two games left of their six game home stand, which includes a December 8th matchup against fellow East Bay school, Cal Berkeley.
West Coast Conference play starts December 29th in Los Angeles against Loyola Marymount.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA