Jan. 31, 2009

Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The University of San Diego women's basketball team dropped its fourth consecutive contest with a 109-73 loss to league-leading Gonzaga University Saturday afternoon in a West Coast Conference game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

With the loss, the Toreros fall to 12-9 overall and fall to 3-4 in the WCC. With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 19-4 overall and remain undefeated in WCC action at 7-0.

Senior forward Kiva Herman scored a team-best 22 points on 10-for-22 shooting from the floor to go along with five rebounds. Senior center Amber Sprague was the second USD player to record double figures as she had 18 points and sophomore guard Sam Child was the third USD player in double figures with 14 points. As a team, USD shot 41 percent from the field and out rebounded the Zags 40-35.

In the first half, Gonzaga jumped out to a 7-1 lead over the first 2:34 of the game. But a Sprague 3-pointer ended the run and pulled the Toreros back to within three at 7-4. Gonzaga would slowly begin to pull away and grabbed a seven-point advantage at 21-14 with 11:28 to go. GU then went on a 17-0 run to take complete control of the momentum and a 38-14 lead with 6:41 remaining in the first half. The Zags would eventually build up their lead to as man as 28 at 54-26 with 2:06 to go in the first half, before settling for a 25-point half time lead.

The Toreros were never able to recover in the second half as GU maintained a 20-30 point advantage for the entire second half. The Zags would build their lead up to as many as 39, before settling for 36-point victory.

The Toreros will return to action on Thursday as they begin the second half of WCC action on the road with a trip to Santa Clara for a 7 p.m. contest against Santa Clara University.