Newcomer of the Year: Kennedy Johnson drives against LMU. / Photo by Tod Fierner for SMC Athletics
March Madness: Saint Mary’s Earns Women’s NIT Selection and Heads to Houston to Face Texas Southern
The Gaels play at 4:30 p.m. on March 20. This is the first postseason appearance for SMC Women’s Basketball since 2022. The Gaels are coming off a season with 10 conference wins—the best since 2019.
The Madness of March has made its way to women's hoops: Saint Mary's was selected to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament for their first postseason tournament since 2022. The Gaels will travel to Houston to take on Texas Southern on Thursday, March 20. Tipoff at the H&PE arena is at 7:30 p.m. Eastern / 4:30 p.m. Pacific.
This marks the Gaels’ 13th WNIT appearance since 2000. They will seek their first WNIT victory since 2019, when they took down Hawaii 67–43 in the first round. In their 12 appearances in the tournament, Saint Mary's holds a 10–12 record. They made their deepest run in the postseason event in 2015, making it to the third round before falling to eventual champion UCLA.
This will be the first postseason appearance for Head Coach Jeff Cammon leading the Gaels. This season, his second at the helm at SMC, the Gaels earned a sixth-place West Coast Conference finish with 10 conference wins—the most for the program since 2019.
Top Threes and WCC Honors
Saint Mary's recorded some of their best statistical measures this season, ranking as one of the best defensive teams in the league. They forced nearly 17 turnovers and recorded over eight steals per game, both ranking inside the top three in the WCC.
They also finished the season inside the top three in free throw percentage (second, 75.1%), assists per game (third, 15.0), field goal percentage (third, 43.5%), three-point field goal percentage (third, 32.6%), and bench points per game (1st, 21.3).
When it comes to individual accolades, Kennedy Johnson was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year and Emily Foy the Sixth Woman of the Year, their first conference awards of their collegiate careers.
WCC Tournament Play
Saint Mary's earned the sixth seed in the 2025 Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship. They faced off against seven seed Pacific, who they had swept in the regular season. But the Tigers got the best of the Gaels in the conference tournament with a 74–59 victory to advance to the quarterfinals.
Maia Jones continued her scoring tear with a team high 17 points on 42% shooting, while senior Kennedy Johnson put up 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. The Gaels’ lone senior left it all out on the floor, with the possibility that it could have been her last collegiate game of her career. But Johnson will get another chance Thursday night in the WNIT against Texas Southern.
In the WCC Championship, four seed Oregon State upset the field and rattled off three wins, including upsets over top seed Gonzaga and two seed Portland, to claim their first WCC Tournament trophy. Six WCC teams earned postseason bids, tying the most ever in conference history.
About the Texas Southern Tigers
Texas Southern finished the 2024–25 regular season with a 15–14 overall record and a 14–4 conference record, good for third place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They defeated 10th seed Prairie View A&M by 20 points in the first round of the SWAC tournament before falling to Alcorn State in the second round.
Sophomore guard Aylasia Fantroy was the team's lone All-SWAC selection, being named to the First Team averaging 12.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in her first season as a Tiger. She also led the team with 70 steals and ranked third with 21 blocks as a dominant two-way player.
Texas Southern boasts the second highest scoring offense in the conference, averaging 66.6 points per game. On the flip side, the Tigers rank 10th in the SWAC when it comes to points per allowed game (68) and second in opponent made field goals, with 760 on the season. Texas Southern only shoots it at a 38% clip and are just 22% from beyond the arc, but they are the best rebounding team in the league, averaging 42 boards per game—compared to just 31 for Saint Mary's.
The Tigers are led by head coach Vernette Skeete, in her third year with the program. She holds a record of 25–64 during her tenure but led the program to their best season since 2020, recording 16 wins this season. Also of note: Vernette Skeete and Jeff Cammon both attended Alcorn State and played for their basketball programs during the 2003 and 2005 seasons.
