MORAGA, Calif. – A hot start couldn't propel the San Francisco women's basketball team to the road win, as Saint Mary's used a powerful finish to take the 72-59 victory on Saturday afternoon at McKeon Pavilion.

USF was paced by a 20-point, 10-rebound effort for senior Taylor Proctor, her ninth of the season and 25th in her career. Fellow senior Zhane Dikes added 13 points, eight rebounds and a game-high three steals and Claudia Price finished with 13 points on 60 percent shooting in the game.

With the victory, the Gaels claim sole possession of second place in the West Coast Conference standings improving to 23-6 on the year, and 14-4 in league play. The Dons close the regular season at 18-11, and nine conference victories is the most for the squad since the 2001-02 campaign. USF heads to the WCC Championships as the No. 6 seed, scheduled to meet up with the third-seeded San Diego Toreros in the quarterfinal round.

The Dons started the game on a tear, with Proctor, Rachel Howard and Dikes connected from the outside to help the visitors to the early 9-2 lead. Then, Kalyn Simon swished the three to make it 15-8 with 3:40 to play in the first quarter. Anna Seilund's triple off the dish from Proctor with 1:50 remaining put USF up 22-10 to give USF five threes in the first quarter, as the team shot 60 percent from the floor.

"I thought we had a really good first quarter especially defensively," said head coach Jennifer Azzi. "But then we didn't play well for the most part for the next three quarters. We went on a run and cut it to five points late in the game, but overall I don't think it was one of our smartest games."

The change in momentum began from the outset of the second quarter after the Gaels got points in the paint from Sydney Raggio, Lauren Nicholson and Carly Turner to open the period. Saint Mary's closed the quarter on a 7-1 run with five of its points coming from the free throw line to edge out to the 34-33 halftime lead.

After the break, the Gaels started with a surge, holding the 42-35 advantage after Raggio's layup with 8:11 on the third quarter clock. USF regrouped after back-to-back buckets and a successful and-1 opportunity for Proctor. Then, the pass inside to Price for the score made it 44-41 with 5:36 remaining in the period.

The Dons entered the fourth quarter down five and cut the Saint Mary's lead to two after Price's layup with 6:52 to play. However, the USF offense went cold in the final minutes of the game, while Saint Mary's hit four of its last six attempts from the field and got to the free throw line four times.
Now, the Dons look ahead to the postseason facing a familiar foe on the court at the Orleans Arena. In last year's WCC tournament, USF was also seeded in the six slot and the Dons went on a run to the championship game after downing San Diego in the semifinal round.

"Any opponent in our conference is a good team, it's going to be interesting how it all shakes out at the tournament this year," noted Azzi. "San Diego is a really good opponent, and they've been really successful the last few years. Obviously we got a good win down there during the regular season, but there are certainly a lot of things we need to work on as we prepare to face them again in the quarterfinals."

As the 2016 postseason begins, the Dons and Toreros will tip off from the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 3, at 6 p.m. Follow USF all week long in the men's and women's basketball championships at usfdons.com/DonsInVegas.