Greeley, CO - The Saint Mary's women's basketball team continued their winning ways with a 74-69 victory over Northern Colorado on Saturday night.  Junior Louella Tomlinson led the team in points (25), rebounds (10), and assists (5), recording her fourth double-double of the season.  Six free throws in the final 1:11 lifted the Gaels to their sixth straight win and improved to 9-4.

"We escaped with the victory tonight, but I am extremely proud of the team and how they were able to close out the game.  We made free throws and got the ball in the right person's hands down the stretch when we needed it," said head coach Paul Thomas. 

The Gaels' leading scorer (17.0 ppg), Louella Tomlinson started the game with a jumper to give the Gaels the early lead, which they sustained the rest of the half.  At the 10-minute mark, freshman Tifa Puletasi finished a pass from Kira Kojola to put the Gaels up 18-8.  The Bears kept the score close, bringing it to a six-point SMC lead with 3:24 to play in the half.  A few well-executed plays in the final minutes of the half, including a buzzer beater 3-point basket by Kira Kojola, brought the Gaels up 40-27 for their largest lead of the night. 

The Bears (5-6) turned the game around real quick, going on a 15-2 run to start the second half, to take their first lead of the night (44-42).  Northern Colorado's Whitley Cox was responsible for 10 of the 15 points in that run, scoring 22 points in the second half.  Back-to-back 3-pointers by Jontelle Smith and Kate Gaze ended the Northern Colorado run and the Gaels regained the lead (48-44) with 15:08 to play.  The game went back-and-forth the rest of the night, but the Gaels executed down the stretch to solidify their sixth straight victory, 74-69.

In the second half, the Gaels drained 13-of-17 free throws (76.5%), including 7-of-8 in the final minute of the game.  Saint Mary's had another solid night from the field, shooting 17-for-34 in the first half en route to a 44.8 shooting percentage on the night.       

The Gaels will spend their travel day flying to Southern California and will prepare to take on UCLA on Monday, December 21.  Tip-off is set for 12:00 p.m. from Pauley Pavilion.  For those unable to travel to UCLA, live stats, audio, and video will be available at www.uclabruins.com.  All three services are free to all fans.