The University of San Diego women’s basketball team encountered a devastating 59-54 loss to the University of San Francisco Saturday afternoon in a West Coast Conference game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Resulting from this loss, the Toreros fell to 21-5 overall, and now move to 11-4 in the WCC. However, with the win, the Dons improve to 15-10 overall and move to 6-8 in the WCC. This was the first time the Dons have won in San Diego since the 2003 season.
The USD women’s team was trailing the Dons by nine points as they started the fourth quarter, but that didn’t even matter to the Toreros. They put on an impressive fight, as they cut the lead down to one on a few different occasions. Unfortunately for the Toreros, their tireless efforts weren’t enough to win the fight. USF’s Proctor Taylor sunk a pair of free throws that bumped the Dons up another three. With only 24 seconds remaining in the game, San Diego put up three 3-pointer attempts that just didn’t quite seem to fall as planned. The icing on the cake came with one second left in the game. San Diego fouled USF, allowing them the opportunity to make a pair of free throws. As the Dons hit both free throws, in a manner that seemed almost effortless, the dagger dug its deepest and left the Toreros speechless and with a 59-54 loss.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, there were some exceptional highlights of the game! Malina Hood led the team’s offense on senior day. She scored 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field, a game-high. There was only one other USD player to score in double figures, and it was Sydney Williams. She had 12 points, and was just shy of a double-double for this game with nine rebounds. Cori Woodward shared in the personal glory of the game with nine points and five assists.
As a team, USD shot 37.3% from the field, while the Dons shot 36.4% from the floor. USF outrebounded USD 42-33. The Toreros exhibited an unusual 16 turnovers, while USF had 19.
The opponent of the game, USF, displayed some individual success as well as the team win. Taylor Proctor led the way with 12 points, while Anna Sielund had 11. Both Zhane Dikes and Rachel Howard also contributed with 10 points each.
The Toreros will return to action on Thursday, as they make their way to BYU where they will face this legue-leading team in 6pm WCC game. The game will be aired live on BYUtv, so show some support!