SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- In a hard fought back-and-forth battle that required 45 minutes to decide a winner, the USF Dons (16-14, 10-8) fell just short at home to the Saint Mary's Gaels (15-14, 9-9) 92-88 in overtime at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

Despite the final score it was a tremendous afternoon on the Hilltop as we honored the 2021-22 senior class of Marianna Klavina, Kia Vaalavirta, Amalie Langer, Lucija Kostic and Abby Rathbun for their tremendous USF careers. Ioanna Krimili continued her torrid late-season scoring run by dropping 32 on the Gaels, while Claudia Langarita set a new career-high in the regular season finale scoring 28 points while making her second consecutive start. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair with USF taking a 20-19 lead through the first 10 minutes of play.
• USF sprinted out to an 11-0 run early in the second quarter as the Dons took control heading into halftime by outscoring the Gaels 20-8 to take the 38-25 lead into the locker room.
• Saint Mary's responded in a big way in the third quarter by outscoring USF by seven to cut their deficit to 57-49 heading into the final quarter.
• The final 10 minutes of regulation was a back-and-forth battle with each time jockeying to take control of the game as it was 77-all with overtime needed in SF to decide the winner.
• The Gaels took over early in the overtime period as they ended their regular season with the 82-77 victory at War Memorial on Saturday afternoon.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

• Krimili ended her regular season with yet another tremendous performance as she scored 32 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished four assists and forced two steals against SMC.
• Langarita was an offensive force throughout the game on Saturday as she set a new career high with 28 points and was a highly efficient 13-of-21 from the field while also blocking two shots. 
• Kennedy Dickie had a good afternoon for the Dons as she posted another double double with 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Dons. 

CATCHING UP WITH COACH GOODENBOUR:
"Today was a tough end to the conference season. Saint Mary's really dominated us on the boards and we had no answer for Holland and Bamberger. Saint Mary's played well and made big shots at the end when they needed to. I thought Claudia had a really nice performance offensively but we certainly missed Lucija's defensive presence and rebounding. We also need to learn how to finish games better. This is not the first time we have not been able to close out a game, hopefully we can learn from this and then put it behind us and get prepared for the WCC tournament, We still have lots of good basketball ahead of us." 

UP NEXT:
The Dons will now turn their attention to the West Coast Conference tournament next weekend at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. USF is currently the conference's number three seed and will play their first game on Saturday against a to be determined opponent.

TICKETS AND MERCHANDISE:
Single-game tickets for West Coast Conference basketball games are currently on sale at www.usfdons.com/tickets. 

Want to dress like the Dons? Rep USF today by visiting the all-new USF Dons online store at www.usfdons.com/shop.

FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the USF women's basketball program, follow the Dons @USFDonsWBB on Twitter, @USFDonsWBB on Instagram and @USFDonsWBB on Facebook.