Jan. 30, 2010
Box Score
San Diego, Calif.- The University of San Diego women's basketball team was outscored 39-26 in the second half, leading conference-opponent Pepperdine University past the Toreros 61-49 on Saturday afternoon at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The Toreros (12-9, 4-3) were unable to hold on to their 23-22 halftime lead, giving up the lead just over a minute into the second half. Both sides made 20 field-goals in the game, with USD shooting 34.5% to best Pepperdine's (13-8, 4-3) 31.7% field-goal shooting percentage, but San Diego was plagued by their three-point shooting as they only made one of their 10 attempts beyond the arc while the Waves were 5-of-15 from three-point distance.
Sophomore guard Dominique Conners, following up her 20-point effort on Thursday against LMU, scored a game-high 26 points for the Toreros on 10-of-16 shooting. Junior forward Sam Child chipped in 13 points to go along with her seven rebounds. Nya Mason also grabbed a career-high 11 boards.
The Toreros were hindered by a sluggish start in the opening minutes of the game as they made only one of their first nine shots and surrendered seven turnovers, falling behind 8-4 with just over 15 minutes to go. A Sara VanderHorst lay-up off a two-on-one fast-break ignited an 8-0 run for USD, however, eventually giving USD its first lead of the game. With a 10-foot jumper preceded by a defender-fooling crossover move, Connners provided USD with the score's advantage, 10-8, with 10:22 left.
San Diego eventually opened up the game to 17-13 when Child nailed USD's only three of the game at the 8:43 mark. Child's three was the fourth straight shot made by the Toreros and part of a 6-of-8 shooting stretch that neutralized the Toreros' cold start.
After giving up the lead over a minute into the second half, though, when Jazmine Jackson of Pepperdine hit a jumper, the Toreros were unable to climb ahead of the Waves throughout the final period. USD tied it up twice, the first time occurring at the 16:42 mark and the final time coming at 15:39, but each time yielded a quick response by Pepperdine that gave the Waves the advantage once again. The Waves took the lead for good when Lauren Bell hit a jumper with 15:30 to go to put Pepperdine in front 31-29.
USD was behind 44-35 with nine minutes left before Conners drained a runner and Child completed a fast-break lay-up to pull the Toreros within 44-39 with less than seven and a half minutes to go. The Toreros defense also forced the Waves to miss six consecutive shots over the minute and a half stretch. The all-around effort by the Toreros was not enough, though, as the Waves increased their lead to double-digits for the first time at the 4:41 mark when Skye Barnett hit a jumper.
With the first half of the conference slate in the books, the Toreros will hit the road and face-off against the University of San Francisco on Thursday, February 4th. Tip-off is set for a 7 p.m.
