SEATTLE — As San Francisco guard Lucie Hoskova turned to run back up the court, she gave an ever-so-slight fist pump, close to her chest.
 
The junior college transfer had just hit a layup in traffic with less than a minute to go, fending off multiple UC Irvine defenders and keeping the charging Anteaters from spoiling the Dons' comeback, all but sealing a 68-61 win in the 25th Annual Husky Classic in Seattle.
 
Hoskova — in her first season with San Francisco — scored a career-high 28 points, including nine during a dramatic fourth quarter against UC Irvine to earn All-Tournament team honors as the Dons erased a 10-point deficit for their seventh win of the season, tying their win total from all of last year.
 
"The kids found a way to win that game, and it could have gone either way," said head coach Molly Goodenbour. "We found a way to get some things done in the second half, make a couple shots."
 
Hoskova — who admitted to feeling some nerves before hitting the dagger — had a poor pregame shooting warmup, by her own reckoning, though she tends to be unusually hard on herself. "She doesn't often give herself credit for the things that she is good at," Goodenbour said.
 
She went 12 for 20 from the floor, setting a career-high for field goals, and went 3-of-8 from beyond the arc, tying her career high for triples in a game, and was one of three Dons to score in double figures, including graduate transfer Mikayla Williams (10) and sophomore Leilah Vigil (16), who went 8-of-14 at the free throw line and added 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
 
"Lucie's a bright spot, all the way around," Goodenbour said. "She's the kind of kid you want to be successful every time she steps on the court."
 
15 of Hoskova's points came during a rough first half for the Dons, who turned the ball over nine times and went just 8 for 30 from the floor, including 1 for 9 from 3-point range.
 
"Every single thing was hard in the first half," Goodenbour said. "It was one of those games, right before Christmas, we have limited numbers, we came off of a game where we're not feeling terribly good about how we played."
 
The Dons (7-5) forced three UC Irvine turnovers in the final 2 minutes, 48 seconds of the half, though, and hit four of their final five shots before the break to cut what was a 10-point deficit down to four.
 
In the second half, rebounding helped fuel another surge. San Francisco out-rebounded Irvine 45-23 in the game, including a 23-7 mark after halftime.
 
"That was what kept us in the game, and put us in a position to win the game," Goodenbour said.
 
With 5:46 to go, a left-corner 3 by graduate transfer Dolapo Balogun — her 12th this season after never hitting one in three seasons at  Southeast Missouri — cut the lead to two. Moses Lake, Wash., native Abby Rathbun tied it up three minutes later with a wide-open corner triple of her own.
 
Rathbun — who had about 50 friends, family members, coaches, trainers and fans on the ticket list for the two-day event — was nails in the second half, dishing out three key assists as the Dons stayed within one possession, kicking out to Mikayla Williams with 8:25 to go to give San Francisco its first lead since the early first quarter, 50-48. Williams extends that to 52-48 two minutes later with a put-back off a Hoskova 3-point miss.
 
It was one of 16 offensive rebounds for the Dons on the day, with Hoskova and Williams pulling down four apiece. San Francisco scored 21 second-chance points on the afternoon.
 
"They made up their minds that they were going to get boards," Goodenbour said. "We've been a good rebounding team all year, but we were not real focused in the first half."
 
The Dons held the Anteaters without a field goal for four minutes in the fourth quarter, with stout rebounding fueling a 13-1 run capped by Hoskova's third 3. San Francisco never trailed again, as cheers inside the Hec Edmundsen Pavilion — bolstered by Rathbun's cheering section — swelled with every Dons basket.
 
"Yep, that's my family," Rathbun said. "Yesterday, after the game, I was watching the highlights, and after I scored a bucket, I could hear my dad going, 'Hey!' My dad's always such a big, positive guy on the sidelines. He loves to enjoy the game when he's not coaching for my little brother. It's a lot of fun for my family and friends. They're such a great support system."
 
"It's a welcome sight whenever we come up here," Goodenbour said.
 
After Irvine got to within four with under two minutes to go, Hoskova drove the lane with a minute left and hit a left-handed layup in traffic to keep the Anteaters at arm's length, down 65-59. As she turned up court, she cracked the smallest of smiles.
 
"I wanted to win that game," Hoskova said. "It's our last game before conference. We needed this win."