Dons Tamed by Tigers, 83-65

Saturday, February 22

Stockton, Calif.

2 p.m.

University of San Francisco

9-18, 4-12WCC

Pacific

16-10, 11-5WCC

Team	1	2	F
San Francisco	30	35	65
Pacific	42	41	83

Denae Mary Williams finished wth eight points on 4-for-5 shooting on Saturday afternoon.

Photo by: Dani Vernon

2/22/2014 5:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

STOCKTON, Calif. – The San Francisco women's basketball team couldn't keep pace with Pacific, as the Dons fell to the Tigers 83-65 at the Alex G. Spanos Center Saturday afternoon.

Pacific's high-octane offense, which rates as the 34th best scoring offense in the nation, shot 49.2 percent for the game, and got double-digit scoring effort from five women. The Dons were paced by 17 points by Taj Winston and a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double for sophomore Taylor Proctor.

Proctor's double-double was her fourth of the season and sixth of her career. USF's duo of Denae Mary Williams and Rachel Howard both added eight points on a combined 7-of-10 shooting effort from the field. Howard added a team-high four assists in the contest.

Pacific, in its first season of competition in the West Coast Conference, improves to 16-10 (11-5 WCC) while USF moves to 9-18 (4-12 WCC) on the year heading into the final week of the regular season.

After controlling the opening tip, USF scored first in the contest off a layup by Paige Spietz. A Proctor layup with 16:40 to play put the score at 9-8 in favor of the home team, before the Tigers embarked on a 10-0 run to extend the lead to double-digits for the first time of the night.

USF responded with a spurt of its own, as Spietz, Zhané Dikes and a 3-pointer from Winston edged the Dons closer. After a triple from the hand of Erin Butler, USF's Proctor scored five straight points, and the Dons trailed 24-20 with 7:53 to play in the period. An offensive dry spell for the Dons ensued, as USF committed four turnovers and missed four shots while Pacific powered to a 12-2 run.

By the halftime break, USF found itself down 42-30. In the second period, Pacific increased the advantage to 17 points after KiKi Moore's successful trip to the line made it 58-41 with 13:13 remaining. Sparked by a 3-pointer by Aundrea Gordon, her second in the game, USF used a 9-2 run to cut Pacific's lead down to 10 points.

A Proctor defensive rebound was tapped to Howard, who passed to a streaking Winston for the layup. On the next possession of another Pacific miss, Spietz tossed the long outlet pass to Winston and the score read 60-50 after the back-to-back layups for the junior from Long Beach, Calif.

Pacific added another 10-3 spurt to grab its largest lead of the game on a Unique Coleman layup with 3:02 to play before taking the 83-65 victory on senior day.

The Dons return home for the final week of the regular season for a pair of crucial games against the L.A.-area schools. USF is seeking its first regular-season sweep of Pepperdine since the 2006-07 season.

Up first, USF takes on Pepperdine Thursday at 7 p.m.