Video highlightsSAN DIEGO – It was just enough.
After a close call against the WCC leaders in Provo, the San Francisco women's basketball team took down the second-place San Diego Toreros, 59-54, on Saturday at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The first win at San Diego since Jan. 24, 2004, USF now improves to 15-10 on the season and 6-8 in league play, while the Toreros slide to 21-5 (11-4 WCC), after dropping both of their home games on the week.
The Dons enjoyed four double-digit scoring efforts on the day, with
Taylor Proctor's 12 points and eight rebounds leading the way. The senior from Colorado Springs, Colo., hit a pair of clutch free throws with 23.9 seconds to play to put the Dons up by three. Fellow senior
Zhane Dikes, who finished with 10 points and six rebounds, iced the game with 0.5 seconds left, connecting on her two at the line to close the day's scoring.
"San Diego is a tough team, and it's always a great matchup between us two," noted Proctor after the win. "Since yesterday when we had shootaround we did really good in end-of-game situations in practice, and I think that really helped us today. San Diego is a great team with great shooters like Malina Hood, and it was huge for us to step up to the plate and get the win."
Anna Seilund added 11 points, including the go-ahead bucket with 40.1 ticks remaining, along with a team-high four assists.
Rachel Howard rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points and three steals in the victory.
The Dons and Toreros began the contest with the quietest quarter of the USF season with a combined 14 points after the first 10 minutes and both teams shooting in the 20s. Then, San Diego edged out to the 31-26 halftime advantage helped by 71.4 percent shooting in the second quarter.
In the third, USF opened with an 8-2 run, jumping to the lead on the corner triple from Proctor to put it 36-33 with 6:37 on the clock. The Dons widened the gap to nine after Howard received the pass from Proctor for her own 3-pointer to make it 47-38 with 1:51 to play in the third. However, the Dons offense started to wane as USF went on a dry spell, scoring just free throws in the next 10 minutes.
Concurrently, Senior Malina Hood, honored before the game for her career for the Toreros, did all she could go get the home team back in the mix in the fourth. She scored the final 11 points of the day for San Diego, finishing with a game-high 20 points. But in the end, the layup from Seilund, and successful trips to the line for
Michaela Rakova, Proctor and Dikes proved to be enough to close out the hotly-contested game.
The Toreros finished with the slight 37 to 36 percent shooting advantage from the floor, but the Dons earned 14 points from the line, compared to San Diego's six. Rebounding proved to be a key in the win, as the Dons finished with the 42-33 advantage on the glass. Along with 14 offensive rebounds for the Dons, USF's defense held the Toreros scoreless on 10 second-chance opportunities.
"The last few games have been really tough for us because we haven't been able to close it out in the fourth quarter. It just seems like everyone stops playing the USF basketball that we live and die by," said Dikes. "Today there was just a new focus and a new intensity, and we were able to get the first win at San Diego in 12 years. It makes me proud of the team, and I know we are trending at right time to finish the season strong."
The Dons return to the Hilltop for a three-game home stand at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center, first taking on Pepperdine on Thursday at 7 p.m.
