SAN FRANCISCO – Despite a game-tying three pointer from Jess Finney with 15 seconds left, the San Diego women's basketball program (8-21, 4-12 WCC) dropped a heartbreaking, 68-66 loss at San Francisco (14-15, 10-6 WCC) on Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Gymnasium.
 
Finney led the Toreros with a career-high 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting, while Dylan Horton added 13 points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Toreros were able to strike early, as Veronica Sheffey notched a pair of baskets before Finney started to get hot.
• Finney tallied a quick three-pointer and jumper to extend the Torero lead to six and the away side would lead by that same total through the first quarter.
• While five of the first seven Torero points in the second quarter came at the free throw line, San Diego was still able to extend the lead to 11.
• Finney hit an additional pair of jumpers, but the Dons responded with a 10-3 run to end the half and cut the San Diego lead to 30-28 at the break.
• The Dons took an early lead in the third quarter, but Finney added six more points to retake a 40-37 lead with 5:10 left in the period.
• The two sides went back-and-forth the remainder of the quarter, as Harsimran Kaur hit a jumper and Horton tallied five points to tie the game at 49-49 at the end of the third quarter.
• Claire Gallagher came on to a hit a key three pointer with 6:15 remaining and the Toreros maintained the lead up until 1:19 left in the game.
• After a pair of free throws made it 66-63 San Francisco, the Toreros drew up an inbounds play to set up Finney, who caught the ball in the corner and nailed a three pointer with hands in her face to tie the game with 16 seconds left.
• However, the Dons scored the game-winning basket with just eight seconds remaining.

 
TORERO TIDBITS

• The Toreros tallied a season-high eight blocks in the loss.
• Finney's 23 points match a high by any Torero this season.

 
NEXT UP
The Toreros will head to the WCC Tournament, opening as the No. 8 seed and facing Pepperdine on Thursday, Mar. 7 at 12 p.m., at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The game will be streamed via ESPN Plus. To stay up to date with Toreros women's basketball, follow the team on Instagram & Twitter by searching "USDwbb".