Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO – Despite a furious second-half comeback and a career-high 29 points from
Taylor Proctor, the San Francisco women's basketball team fell to Pacific in its first West Coast Conference matchup, 80-67, Thursday night at War Memorial Gym.
Proctor, a sophomore from Colorado Springs, Colo., powered in 8-of-17 attempts, and earned 11 points from the free throw line. She coupled her game-high scoring with 10 rebounds to notch her third double-double of the season. Proctor stood as the only Dons to reach the double-digit plateau in any statistical category.
USF (7-8, 2-2 WCC) saw itself down early in the game, with the deficit reaching double digits after Unique Coleman's layup capped a 9-0 Pacific run to put the score at 23-12 in favor of the visitors midway through the first half. The lead continued to balloon throughout the remainder of the first period, and the Tigers held a 48-28 halftime advantage helped in no small part by 9-of-18 shooting from 3-point range in the opening half.
Pacific scored the first bucket after the break and had its largest lead of the night mere seconds after action resumed. However, the Dons were determined to overcome its first half woes.
Proctor's three-point play with 16:23 to go in the game got the Pacific lead back in the teens, at 53-35, but then two straight scores by the Tigers again extended the margin.
Paige Spietz' offensive rebound and putback with 14:04 remaining started a 16-4 USF run. During the nearly seven-minute stretch, the Dons defense ratcheted up the intensity as the previously hot-shooting Tigers cooled. Pacific went 1-for-9 from the field, and 0-for-5 from long range, while coughing the ball up four times for the Dons.
Meanwhile, USF's
Alexa Hardick swished a 3-pointer to spark the crowd and the Dons went 5-for-6 from the line as the Tigers found themselves in foul trouble. At the end of the scoring streak for the Dons, USF and inched the score closer, trailing 61-51 with 7:08 left in the game.
It remained a 10-point spread when Proctor's 3-pointer made it 70-60 with 3:02 to play. Proctor's second triple of the night cut the lead to eight points with 2:14 remaining. It was the first time the Dons were within single-digits since a
Claudia Price jumper made the score 29-21 with 7:31 to play in the first half.
However, Pacific was able to hold off the charging Dons in the final two minutes of action before the game closed with a tally of 80-67. Led by San Francisco native KiKi Moore's 20 points and 11 rebounds in the contest, the Tigers improve to 7-8 (2-3 WCC) on the season.
Pacific's impressive first-half shooting was counterbalanced by 29 percent shooting in the second, and a 1-for-12 effort from beyond the arc. While the Dons never found their offensive groove, shooting 30.4 percent on the night, USF's 18-for-19 effort from the line in the second half kept the game within striking distance down the stretch.
USF continues its four-game homestand as the Dons host Saint Mary's on the Hilltop Saturday at 2 p.m.
