SAN DIEGO – The San Diego women's basketball program (15-10, 9-5 WCC) rode a sensational performance from Ayanna Khalfani to a 75-63 victory over Pepperdine (8-17, 3-12 WCC) on Saturday afternoon at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
Khalfani finished with a career-high 23 points, along with a career-best nine assists, seven rebounds, five blocks and four steals. Kiera Oakry added 16 points and four steals in the win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After the game started at 2-2, the Toreros took over the contest from every facet of the game.
• San Diego would go on a 21-1 run over the next seven and a half minutes, with Khalfani and Oakry punishing the Waves in transition.
• The Toreros would shoot 58.8 percent, while limiting the Waves to 18.2 percent and just two field goals in the opening quarter.
• The large first quarter proved to be enough for the Toreros, who despite losing the next three quarters by one, or three-point margins, would answer every run from the visitors.
• Pepperdine opened the second quarter with a 6-2 start, but Khalfani would quickly hit a jumper and Jess Finney added a three pointer to balloon the lead to as high as 18.
• Harsimran Kaur would find her shot in the second quarter, scoring four points to give San Diego a 41-25 lead at the half.
• A 10-1 run for the Waves in the third quarter cut the lead to just seven, but the Toreros would weather the storm with a 6-0 run of their own to lead 50-37.
• One last push by Pepperdine in the fourth quarter pushed the Torero lead to eight, but Kasey Neubert and Khalfani each tallied a bucket and Oakry hit four free throws to put it away.

 
TORERO TIDBITS

• Myah Pace (223) moved in sole possession of ninth place on the all-time offensive rebounds chart, officially passing Sydney Hunter. Next up is Amber Sprague (236) in eighth.
• Khalfani is up to 19.3 points per game over her last four games and has crossed her previous career-high in three of those four contests.
• In addition, Khalfani finished with a career-best nine assists, good for the most by a Torero this season.
• Khalfani added five of the Toreros' season high eight blocks, giving San Diego its most in a game since a win over Pepperdine on Feb. 6, 2021. It was also a career-best for Khalfani.
• The Toreros also finished with a season-high 23 assists as a team and held Pepperdine to the second lowest field goal percentage of the year at 35.2%.

 
UP NEXT
The Toreros will head out for their final regular season road trip of the season, facing San Francisco on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed via the WCC Network.