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  Friday, Nov. 17 10:35pm ET
Twins lift St. Mary's to upset in opener
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

MORAGA, Calif. (AP) -- St. Mary's first-year coach Michelle Jacoby called it "making history."

With Jermisha Dosty turning in career highs in both points (18) and rebounds (18), and Jerkisha Dosty, who's one inch shorter than her 6-foot-3 twin sister, adding 19 points and 10 rebounds, the Gaels upset 12th-ranked Stanford, 74-63, on Friday in the season opener for both teams.

Bethany Donaphin scored 17 points for Stanford, which has lost three of its last four openers, all on the road.

The Gaels beat Stanford for the first time in six tries and delivered Jacoby a victory in her head coaching debut.

"We're making history," said Jacoby. "This kind of win puts us in the recruiting wars and solidifies us as a top 25 team. I think a lot of people had questions and we erased some of them."

St. Mary's hit its first four shots and never looked back. Rebounding was the key to that early lead, as the Gaels held a 19-4 advantage on the boards in the game's first eight minutes.

"We've been emphasizing rebounding this year," said Jerkisha Dosty. "I think, as a team, we all contributed to that."

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, three wins shy of her 500th career victory, couldn't argue.

"The twins stepped up and played really well," she said. "They give them an inside presence with two people and that's hard to guard. They did a great job on the boards. They play motivated and aggressive."

The Dosty twins, who helped the Gaels to a considerable rebounding advantage (47-32) over the taller Cardinal, also combined to shoot 13-of-21 from the field.

"I thought we could go inside early and that's exactly what we did," said Jacoby. "Being able to get board after board in the first 10 minutes kept fueling our fire."

St. Mary's led by 23 points, 52-29, when sophomore center Natalie Kelly sank two free throws at 12:28 of the second half.

The Cardinal responded with a 12-2 run, led by nine points by Donaphin and closed to 54-41.

Lauren St. Clair, who scored 11 points, converted a four-point play with 4:41 remaining to bring Stanford within 61-51, but St. Mary's scored the next eight points and the Cardinal never got within 10 the rest of the way.

Stanford played without guard Jamie Carey, last year's Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, who has retired from the sport because of recurring concussions.

"They don't have an outside threat without her," said Jacoby. "She's such a go-to player. They really took a hit with that."

Donaphin had a different opinion.

"It wasn't about missing her. We didn't do our job on defense and we didn't box out. That's the bottom line," she said. "The way we played tonight is not team we are."

Courtney Ferguson's 3-pointer with 2:05 left in the first half gave St. Mary's a 30-20 lead, but the Cardinal closed to within 30-23 by halftime.
 


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