Accolades for Gaels: From left, Maija Jones (WCC Honorable Mention, WCC All-Academic Team), Kennedy Johnson (Newcomer of the Year), Emily Foy (Sixth Woman of the Year), Zeryhia Aokuso (Honorable Mention) / Photo composite by Piper Westrom
Kennedy Johnson and Emily Foy Take Home West Coast Conference Awards for Saint Mary’s
Newcomer of the Year and Sixth Woman of the Year. Honorable mentions for Maia Jones and Zeryhia Aokuso. And WCC All-Academic Team honorable mentions for Jones and Nadia Bernard. Now onto the WCC Tourney!
As they head for the 2025 Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship, Saint Mary's will bring with them some hardware: Kennedy Johnson was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year and Emily Foy this year’s Sixth Woman of the Year, their first conference awards of their collegiate careers. This is the first time the Gaels have brought home two major awards since 2010; that season, Louella Tomlinson won both WCC Player and Defender of the Year.
Newcomer of the Year | Kennedy Johnson
Kennedy Johnson nearly matched her numbers from her First Team All-Conference season at Idaho last year, finishing this season averaging 12 points and nearly six boards per game. Johnson did it all for the Gaels as a plus defender and a dominant scorer inside. She led the team with 55 steals and was second with 14 blocks.
Johnson is a senior guard from Hayward, California. She recorded a season-high 25 points in the team’s conference opener against Santa Clara. She then recorded a career-high 12 rebounds later in the season in the team’s rematch against the Broncos, also chipping in 14 points for her lone double-double of the year. Her other career high came in a narrow defeat to league champions Gonzaga, where she recorded five steals. She finished the season with 16 multi-steal games. Johnson was also named to the All-WCC Honorable Mention.
Sixth Woman of the Year | Emily Foy
Emily Foy made quite the jump in her sophomore season to earn Sixth Woman of the Year. Foy was the team’s best perimeter shooter, making a team-high 43 threes and shooting 37% from beyond the arc. She was a consistent scoring threat off the bench for the Gaels and helped spark numerous late-game comebacks throughout the season.
Foy hails from Newcastle, Australia. She recorded a career-high 18 points in the team’s 20-point win over Pacific, where she was 7–12 from the field and drilled four three-pointers. Foy had a team-high 11 games with multiple three-pointers made and four games with four threes made. She finished the regular season averaging eight points and three rebounds while shooting 43% from the field.
Honorable Mention & Honorable Mention, WCC All-Academic Team | Maia Jones
On any given night, Maia Jones can stand as one of the best individual scorers in the WCC. Jones led the Gaels in scoring, averaging 12.1 points while shooting 46% from the field. She led the team with five 20-point games this season and was just three points shy of her career-high, scoring 28 points in a thrilling overtime win against UC San Diego at the beginning of the year.
A sophomore guard from Tasman, New Zealand, Jones also upped her game in other categories, recording new career highs in rebounding (9) and assists (8). At her best, Jones is a three-level scorer who can splash the three but also has terrific individual skill to take defenders off the dribble and finish inside. Jones will enter the Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship in great form after scoring a team-high 27 points, including 17 in the third quarter, to help pull off the team's 20-point comeback win over Oregon State. She then scored 14 points in the team's regular-season finale against LMU to bump her scoring average to over 12 points per game.
Jones was named to the WCC All-Freshman Team in 2024. She earns her second all-conference selection as a part of the 2025 Honorable Mention list. And for the first time she was named an Honorable Mention for the WCC All-Academic team. While leading the team in scoring, Jones has also recorded a 3.75 GPA—second highest on the team—while majoring in Communication at Saint Mary's.
Honorable Mention | Zeryhia Aokuso
After returning from injury earlier in the season, Zeryhia Aokuso returned to the starting lineup and made her impact felt immediately. When healthy, Aokuso is one of the most talented guards in the league, averaging nine points, three boards, and nearly four assists per game. Despite missing the first four games of the season, Aokuso stormed back to lead the team with 87 assists—for 13th most in the conference.
A guard from Amarillo, Texas, Aokuso showed flashes this season from her Freshman of the Year campaign, recording five games with 15+ points, including a season-high 21 points in the team's ten-point win over San Diego. She also matched her career high with seven boards in a win over Pepperdine and set a new career-high with 12 assists in a five-point home win over LMU. Aokuso is a tremendous passer and facilitator, and when the turnovers are down and assists are up, the Gaels offense is at their best.
Aokuso was named the WCC Freshman of the Year in 2024 and was named to this year's Honorable Mention list for her second career all-conference selection.
Honorable Mention, WCC All-Academic Team | Nadia Bernard
Sophomore Nadia Bernard was named to her first WCC All-Academic team for her efforts in the classroom and on the court. Bernard recorded a 3.40 GPA while majoring in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Sports Management.
On the court, Bernard has played in a career high 19 games and has scored a season high four points twice in games against Cal and Oregon State. Bernard is a forward out of Santa Clarita, California, and this is her first career WCC All-Academic selection. In order to qualify for the WCC All-Academic Team, student-athletes must maintain a minimum 3.20 cumulative grade point average, be a starter or important reserve, and meet other qualifications.
WCC Championship Tournament: Gaels Are No. 6 Seed and Play Saturday
Saint Mary’s enters the Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship as the sixth seed and will play in the third round of the tournament on Saturday, March 8, at 2:30 p.m. in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Saint Mary’s finished conference play at an even .500 with a 10–10 record. In Las Vegas, they await the winner of a game between Pacific and either San Diego or Pepperdine. The Gaels will be seeking their first conference tournament win since beating Pacific in the first round in 2021.
While they dropped their regular season finale to LMU, the Gaels came into the home stretch of the season with an epic win: a 20-point comeback win over Oregon State on February 27. Down 20 points late in the second quarter, the Gaels shot the lights out in the third quarter, scoring 28 points on 77% shooting. Leading the charge was Maia Jones, who scored 17 points in the quarter.
Defensively, the Gaels held the Beavers to just 27 points on just 33% shooting and were able to get a defensive stop on the final possession to seal the comeback victory. After struggling from three over the final month of the season, Saint Mary’s went on to hit five timely threes in the second half to truly swing momentum down the stretch. Kennedy Johnson and Zeryhia Aokuso also combined for 24 points.
Saint Mary's has shown they have the ability to compete with every team in the conference come tournament time, with timely shooting and one of the top defenses in the WCC, allowing just 64 points per game. Of the three potential opponents they might face on Saturday, the Gaels are a combined 6–0 on the season with sweeps over all three.
