Loyola Women No Match for St. Mary’s, 82-63

St. Mary’s accurate shooting and deep bench proved to be too much for the Loyola Marymount women’s basketball team, which lost to the Gaels, 82-63, Saturday in a West Coast Conference game at Gersten Pavilion.

St. Mary’s pulled away to a 37-18 lead before Loyola made a late run to cut the deficit to 43-30 at the half. The Lions got to within 60-48 with 11:20 left but the Gaels steadily padded their lead after that. The Gaels shot 56% in the first half and 50% for the game.

Two-time conference player of the year Anja Bordt led five St. Mary’s players in double figures with 27 points and nine assists. Lynn Flanagan led the Lions with 24. Tricia Gibson blocked three shots to break her own season school record with 73.

The loss gave the Lions a split of weekend games left them 9-13 overall and 2-6 in WCC play. St. Mary’s, the WCC’s defending champion, improved 17-5 and 6-2.

On Friday, the Lions defeated San Francisco, 69-60, for their second conference victory.