Nov. 14, 2009
Box Score
San Diego, CA- Junior forward Emily Hatch, who scored a career-high 20 points, was among four University of San Diego women's basketball players to score in double figures, in helping propel the Toreros to an 88-69 victory over the visiting UC San Diego Tritons on Saturday evening at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in the season-opener.
Hatch scored 18 of her 20 points in the first half, shooting a perfect 9-for-9 from the field, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range, while also adding in six rebounds. Morgan Henderson scored 16, with 12 occurring in the second half, while grabbing nine boards. Dominique Conners had 15 points on 3-for-6 shooting, and recorded a game-high seven steals. Sam Child was the final Torero in double figures with 11 points on 5-for-12 shooting from the floor. As a team, the Toreros shot 18-for-28 (64.3%) in the opening half and 30-for-53 (56.6%) for the game.
The Toreros (1-0) fell behind early on, as their first three possessions for resulted in turnovers, allowing UCSD (0-1) to take a 6-0 lead. The Tritons attacked the Torero offense with a pressing defense, forcing the Toreros to beat their defense with ball movement. The Tritons would go on to increase their lead to 13-0 before Conners added the first USD points at the 14:45 mark with a free throw.
"Conners showed great composure after the first five minutes," said head coach Cindy Fisher. "The press gave us some problems early on, as we weren't expecting as much of it as we saw. However, once we got past the first five minutes, I thought she settled down and showed great leadership."
Conners' free throws ignited a 16-3 run for the Toreros, which was book ended on a Hatch lay-up at 10:31, knotting things up at 16-16. A few moments later, a Henderson lay-up then gave USD a 21-20 lead with 8:04 to go, and the Toreros would not surrender the lead for the remainder of the game. Henderson's lay-up sparked a 15-8 Torero run to close out the first half and give San Diego a 19-point lead at 46-28.
The Tritons would narrow the lead to 10 points midway through the second half on a Charity Smith lay-up with 12:57 to go, however the Toreros then answered with a 20-5 run, that was sparked on a Hatch lay-up and capped on a Brittany Conger lay-up, expanding USD's lead to 20 at 70-50 with 7:29 remaining. The USD offense went 4-of-5 shooting and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line during the stretch while limiting UCSD to shoot 25% (2-for-8) from the field.
San Diego never looked back as they eased their way to an 88-69 win.
The Toreros will continue making their rounds in intra-city contests, as they will play at San Diego State on Tuesday, November 17th. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. PT.
