Jan. 2, 2014
Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Behind a season-high 23 points from senior guard Amy Kame, the University of San Diego women's basketball team dealt the Saint Mary's Gaels an 80-70 loss in a West Coast Conference game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion Thursday evening.
With the win, the Toreros remain perfect on the season at 14-0, mark the best start for any sport at USD in the Division I era, extend the program's longest winning streak, and are now one of six undefeated schools left in Division I. The Toreros also improved to a perfect 3-0 in the WCC to remain in first place in the league. With the loss, the Gaels fall to 12-2 overall and 2-1 in the WCC.
Kame scored her game-high 23 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field, while also tying a career-high with seven assists, and she pulled down eight rebounds. Malina Hood scored 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, while Felicia Wijenberg scored 14 points, and pulled down seven rebounds. Sophia Ederaine scored 14 points and tied a season-high with four blocks, and the final USD player in double figures was Brooke Jelniker, who scored 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field, and she recorded a career-high three blocks. As a team, USD shot 48.4% from the field, and out rebounded the Gaels 40-38.
In the first half, it was a close-knit battle in the early going. The first four minutes of action saw five different lead changes take place, and both teams kept their sights on each other, and neither team was willing to give up too much ground.
Then with the Gaels up five at 13-8, a Wijenberg jumper sparked a 10-0 Torero run to give the home team an 18-13 lead with 10:33 to go. The Gaels then managed to even the score up at 18-all on a Shannon Mauldin lay-up with 7:31 to go. But that was short lived, as the Toreros began to slowly open the margin, and a pair of Kame free throws with 1:56 to go, gave the Toreros their first double-digit lead of the game at 38-28. SMC then hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining to go into the break down seven 40-33.
In the second frame, it was back and forth over the first three minutes, until the Gaels went on a 6-0 run to pull back to within four at 47-43 with 16:27 to go. At that point, it was a basket-for-basket type of game over the span of six minutes, until a Kate Gaze jumper evened the score up at 57-all with 9:30 to go.
Then head coach Cindy Fisherwent to work, and put together one of her best coaching performances, as the Toreros were in severe foul trouble, having three players with three or more fouls. Fisher looked to her deep Torero bench, and began to throw one combination after another out there, mixing in freshmen, to seniors, for foul troubled players and non-foul troubled players in order to manage the foul situation.
The Gaels managed to keep the score close, and closed the gap down to two on a few occasions, but USD would not surrender the lead. Then with the Toreros leading 73-70, a Hood floating jumper sparked a 7-0 USD run over the final 1:48 of play, to give USD their 10th consecutive double-digit win at 80-70.
The Toreros will return to action on Saturday, as they welcome the University of the Pacific to town for a 2 p.m. WCC game inside the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Pacific is coming off an upset win over BYU, in Provo Thursday evening, so this will be another key match-up for the Toreros, and also the fourth game they will play in a seven day stretch.
