LACEY, Wash. –Bria Thames made history on Saturday night as Saint Martin's grinded out another GNAC victory against Concordia, 53-47, and improving their home record to 8-1 on the year.

Bria Thames recorded a career-high of 29 rebounds, to lead Saint Martin's (8-7, 3-5 GNAC) to a victory after being tied 40-40 in the fourth quarter. The Saints outscored Concordia (3-13, 2-6 GNAC) 13-7 in the final minutes to take the victory on their home court. In the process, Thames became the GNAC all-time record holder for most rebounds in a single game, which had previously been 24 on the men's and women's side. Tierney DeDonatis led all scorers with 15 points, and along with Thames' 14, and Clarie Dingus' 11, the three combined for 40 of the Saints' 53 points.

Saint Martin's started out the game scoring the first seven points, to make the score 7-0 in the first six minutes. The Cavalier's offense finally connected to score their first basket of the game, but Makenna Schultz scored a basket in the paint to respond. CU continued to score the next seven points to tie up the game for the first time. The quarter ended with the Saints in the lead by one, 12-11.

After Concordia opened up the second quarter with a basket, the Saints held them scoreless for the next four minutes. During this, SMU scored twelve points, highlighted with back-to-back threes from DeDonatis. Both teams went basket-for-basket for the final minutes to end the half 28-19, with Saint Martin's in the lead.

In the third quarter, SMU led as many as 11, behind the efforts of four different Saints. However, the Cavaliers managed to cut the Saints' advantage to six by the end of the period.

Momentum flipped quickly in the fourth quarter when the Concordia scored five straight points to make it just a two-point game with 6:25 on the clock. Seconds later, it became a tie game at 40-40 after a Cavalier basket to raise tensions in the gym. No one other than Thames would put the Saints back in the lead, followed by another DeDonatis three. Saint Martin's rose to the challenge to overpowered Concordia, and outscore them to take the game 53-47.

On top of Thames' record-breaking ­­­­29 rebounds, she scored 14 points with two steals, and marked her seventh double-double. DeDonatis put up 15 points to lead all players in scoring, while Dingus recorded 11 points and eight rebounds. Schultz came off the bench to add six points and two assists.

Saint Martin's as a team shot 16-for-55 (29.1 percent) from the floor, 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from beyond the arc, and 16-for-24 (66.7 percent) at the line. The Saints collected 48 rebounds, with seven assists on 17 turnovers, along with six blocks.  

Saint Martin's next matchup will be against Seattle Pacific on Thursday, January 21. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. with live stats and video at smusaints.com.