Video HighlightsSAN FRANCISCO – For the first time in nearly 20 years, the San Francisco women's basketball team has opened on a tear, defeating Utah Valley 69-50 Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
For the Dons, the win is their fifth straight at home as USF improves to 5-1 on the season. The last string of five consecutive victories on the home hardwood came in 2007-08, and the last time a USF squad stood at 5-1 was the 1994-95 season. Meanwhile, Utah Valley drops to 3-4 with the loss.
USF was paced by
Taylor Proctor's third double-double of the season, with game highs of 20 points and 15 rebounds. Her glass-crashing effort ties the career-high for the junior from Colorado Springs, Colo.
"Taylor did an outstanding job tonight on the boards and I would say statistically almost every time she's our leading rebounder we win," head coach
Jennifer Azzi noted. "That effort – she had effort all over the floor; defensively, offensively and also rebounding, and she put together a huge game tonight."
Taj Winston went for 12 points, and
Zhane Dikes added 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists in USF's win. The duo of
Paige Spietz and
Rachel Howard each added nine points, and Howard finished with a game-high four assists on the balanced score sheet.
The Dons and Wolverines were locked in a tight contest early on, and Utah Valley owned the 14-12 advantage after back-to-back 3-pointers with 13:24 remaining in the first half. But the Dons would scrap to the lead off a triple from Proctor started a 13-4 run. A scoreless spell for both squads ensued before the Dons closed out the period with the last eight points in the half to stretch the advantage to 33-23.
The Dons maintained the double-digit lead for the duration and after a string of 12 unanswered points, USF sped ahead 55-31. The run was capped by a stealthy defensive play from Winston, a senior from Long Beach, Calif. With 8:34 remaining, she picked off the inbounds pass from the Wolverines, and layed it up and in to give USF its largest lead of the game.
"I thought our full court pressure was outstanding tonight," Azzi said. "The effort and the defensive intensity of our team really stepped up in this game and I think it helped a ton in our win. I've been pleased with our defensive intensity in just about every game we've played this season. It's been a switch up for us from a year ago, and it's something that I think has made us a much better team."
The Dons would go on to close with the 69-50 victory to remain unscathed at War Memorial Gym. USF forced Utah Valley into 18 turnovers and stepped in to take three charges. Despite the narrow gap in shooting percentage, the Dons went to the line 27 times, hitting 81.5 percent of its attempts. USF won the battle of the boards 43 to 35 and again edged out the competition in every hustle category.
Utah Valley's Rhaiah Spponer-Knight, the team's leading scorer on the season, was held 10 points below her average as she fell into early foul trouble, picking up her fourth on the day with 19:03 remaining in the game. Defensively, the Dons are holding opponents to 53.2 points per game, a mark that currently stands as 24th in the NCAA.
Next up for the Dons is a trip up I-80 to take on UC Davis Tuesday at 7 p.m. USF is looking for its fourth straight win over the Aggies.
