SAN FRANCISCO – The San Diego women's basketball program (15-11, 9-6 WCC) were unable to bounce back from an early deficit, falling 66-55 on the road at San Francisco (17-10, 7-8 WCC) on Thursday night at the War Memorial Gym.
Ayanna Khalfani led the way with another standout offensive performance, tallying 21 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double.
Kasey Neubert also added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The opening quarter between the two sides proved to be a slugfest, with nine of the 24 combined points from the two sides coming at the free throw line.
- Myah Pace was able to tally four of the Toreros 10 points, but San Francisco held a four-point advantage through the first quarter.
- After four early points from Khalfani to open the second quarter, the Toreros rallied to tie the game at 16-16.
- However, San Francisco used a 7-0 run to create some breathing room and held the Toreros without a field for over five minutes to end the half.
- A basket by Pace and a three-pointer from Amanda Olinger got the Toreros on the right track out of the half, but San Francisco immediately responded.
- The Dons tallied a 14-3 run to take a 12-point lead with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.
- The San Francisco lead would balloon to as high as 18 points, but the Toreros would not quit.
- Khalfani added five points and Jess Finney knocked down a three pointer to shave the lead to nine points, but the Dons were able to hang on at the free throw line.
TORERO TIDBITS
- Pace (1,069) tallied nine points and passed Morgan Woodrow for 18th on the Toreros all-time scoring list. Next up is Erin Malich (1,071) in 17th.
- Khalfani is up to 19.6 points per game over her last five games and has crossed her previous career-high in four of those five contests.
- Khalfani and Neubert became the first Toreros duo to record double-doubles in the same game since Sydney Hunter and Patricia Brossman did it against San Jose State on Dec. 21, 2018.
UP NEXT
The Toreros will wrap up the brief road trip with a matchup at Santa Clara on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed via the WCC Network.
