SAN FRANCISCO — It turns out that a Christmas Eve family dinner was just what Kia Vaalavirta needed.
 
The San Francisco sophomore out of Espoo, Finland, spent the holiday last week with her family in an apartment in Newport Beach, and after they drove up Highway 1 to see the California coast, they watched her turn in a career game in Saturday's West Coast Conference opener.
 
Vaalavirta was one of four Dons in double figures, scoring 18 and hitting a career-best six 3-pointers, but it wasn't enough to send the family home with a win. Despite the balanced scoring and another double-double from Mikayla Williams, San Francisco couldn't hold an eight-point lead and fell to Saint Mary's, 86-79.
 
"A lot of effort, a lot of heart, just not quite able to get it done," said head coach Molly Goodenbour.
 
The Gaels (6-6, 1-0 WCC) shot 47.6% from the floor, headed by an 8-for-13 day from Madeline Holland (22 points) and a 9-for-20 afternoon from Sam Simons, who hit three of Saint Mary's seven 3-pointers. Said Goodenbour: "We couldn't figure out how to stop those guys and make enough baskets on our end."
 
The loss for Goodenbour was a particularly vexing one: Saint Mary's is the only WCC team she's not beaten yet in her three-plus seasons in San Francisco. The Gaels' margin of victory hadn't been lower than eight points in their last six games against the Dons, including a pair of 15-point wins last season.
 
Vaalavirta's mother, Leila, was at the first of those games, where Kia went 3 for 6 for seven points in 18 minutes as a freshman. Thrust into the starting point guard job this year thanks to a raft of injuries, Vaalavirta has averaged 4.8 points and 1.5 assists per game, but she's done enough to keep the Dons steady. Entering Saturday, San Francisco (7-6, 0-1 WCC) had already matched its win total from last season.
 
"Everybody's in different spots than we're used to," Vaalavirta said. "I think we're tougher this year. We've out-rebounded all the teams we've played against, and I feel like everybody's willing to win. You can feel it."
 
Against Saint Mary's — who the Dons have not beaten since the 2016 WCC Tournament — Vaalavirta was a force, striping three of her career-high six 3-pointers in the first 13 minutes, 15 seconds of the game to push the Dons to an eight-point lead.
 
She hit from both sides of the floor, from the top, from wide open and with hands in her face. It was a rhythm she got into early during warmups.
 
"It felt good, so why not keep shooting?" Vaalavirta said.
 
Vaalavirta, though, had to exit with 4:12 to go in the second quarter thanks to three fouls. With her off the floor, the Gaels went on a 10-2 run to take a 41-40 lead into the break.
Saint Mary's then opened up the second half shooting 64.3% from the field, as the Dons went 6 for 16 in the third quarter, and only 2-of-7 beyond the arc.
 
"They got too many offensive rebounds and they got to the rim really easily," Vaalavirta said. "We couldn't help, because they have a lot of shooters. They just got layups. They got more easy shots than we did. We also missed a lot of layups, a lot of easy shots we're supposed to make."
 
San Francisco hit three of its first five shots of the fourth quarter, and with 6:32 left in the game, Vaalavirta pulled up in front of the Dons' bench and hit her sixth 3-pointer of the day — doubling her previous single-game high — to bring her teammates to their feet, and to bring San Francisco to within three. A layup by junior Lucie Hoskova cut the lead to one, but the Dons couldn't pull even. Over the next three and a half minutes, Saint Mary's hit five of six shots to balloon the lead to 10.
 
"Some of it is our shot selection, missing easy shots," said Goodenbour, whose team shot 15-of-40 (37.5%) after the break. "Taking bad shots leads us to not being matched up at that end, and they did a really good job of isolating us and driving it close to the rim. With their size, it was really tough for us to be in position to defend down there. They do a nice job of cutting and passing."
 
Even in the loss, though, the Dons had no shortage of superlative performances. Vaalavirta's 18 points were two off her career best. Graduate transfer Mikayla Williams scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double. Sophomore Abby Rathbun scored 11 points and just missed her second double-double with eight rebounds. Hoskova, with 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting, recorded her second straight 20-point game.
 
"Our kids are tough, and they play hard, and they always give great effort," Goodenbour said. "That puts us in position to compete every night."
 
With the gym empty, the holiday crowd long since gone, only Vaalavirta and her family — Leila, father Ilari, younger brother Leo, 18, and older sister Nea, 22 — remained, laughing, smiling, talking with their hands.
 
It was the first time the family as a whole had seen Kia play since last year's tournament in Florida — a much shorter flight than the one they took on Dec. 22 to Los Angeles. They'll see her play again on Monday, when the Dons host Pacific for the second of three straight home games to start conference play.