Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Behind a season-high 22 points from junior guard Malina Hood, the University of San Diego women's basketball team cruised its way to a 66-44 win over cross-town rival San Diego State University Tuesday evening in a non-conference game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

With the win, the Toreros improve to 7-1 overall, have now won three consecutive games, and are of to the second best start in program history. With the loss, the Aztecs fall to 2-5 overall.

Malina Hood led all scorers with her season-high 22 points on 9-of-19 shooting, including connecting on four three pointers. Maya Hood also had a monster of a game, as she recorded 14 points, had a career-high seven assists, and she pulled down six boards. Both Sophia Ederaine and Katelyn McDaniel added in eight points apiece, with Ederaine pulling down a game-high eight rebounds. As a team, USD shot 41.5% from the field, and was out rebounded for the first time all season, 38-36.

In the first half, the Toreros came out firing on all cylinders, and raced out to a 9-0 lead through the first 3:02 of action, forcing the Aztecs to use a timeout. Out of the break, SDSU answered this 9-0 run with an 8-3 run over the next 4:30 to pull back to within four at 12-8 with 12:28 to go.

SDSU then kept things relatively close over the next four minutes, before USD began to slowly pull ahead. With the Toreros leading 20-16, a Maya Hood jumper sparked an 11-5 Torero run to give USD its first double-digit lead of the game at 31-21 with 4:32 to go. USD then maintained a 7-10 point lead for a remainder of the period, before taking a 33-25 lead into halftime.

In the second half, SDSU would remain in the back seat, as USD continued to lead for the whole 20 minutes, and USD's lead did not dip below seven at any point in this frame. The Toreros would hold off the Aztecs at arms length with a 7-15 point lead for a majority of the frame. USD then got hot late, and would push its lead up to 22 at the end, on a Malina Hood 3-pointer as the shot clock was expiring with just 1:00 left to play.

The Toreros will return to action on Friday, as they head up to the Pacific Northwest to take on Seattle University in a 7 p.m. non-conference game. This will mark the start of a four-game road trip to close out the 2014 calendar year.