SAN DIEGO – On a night where the University of San Diego women's basketball team honored National Girls and Women in Sport Day, it capped off a three-game home stand inside the JCP with a 66-56 loss to Gonzaga Thursday night. 
 
"I'm very proud of our effort in how we competed with the team sitting at first in the WCC," head coach Blanche Alverson said. "We've consistently been improving, and I thought this game showed how much we've grown in so many areas. We still have a lot more to continue to work on, but I'm so encouraged with how we've been competing recently."
 
The Toreros hung tough but were unable to muster a lead in the 10-point loss. 
 
Leading the way again for San Diego was sophomore guard Kylie Ray, who scored a game-high 25 points along with four rebounds. 
 
That included scoring USD's first 12 points in the third quarter, plus a jumper with 5:04 left in the period to get the deficit down to four, 42-38. 
 
Ray notched her second 20-point game in the last three contests since coming back from injury a couple of weeks ago at Oregon State. 

Also continuing a hot stretch was freshman Olivia Owens, who logged her third straight double-double, close to a triple-double with 14 points, a team-high 11 rebounds and a game-high seven assists. The Columbus, Ohio native scored nine of her points in the fourth quarter and capped off a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer to cut Gonzaga's lead down to eight, 62-54, with 1:17 left. 
 
USD hung tough with the conference's first-place Bulldogs (19-7, 11-2 WCC) in the opening half. The Toreros capped off a mini 5-0 run with a 3-pointer from Malia Tharpe to trim a seven-point deficit down to two, 22-20 with 7:25 left in the second quarter.
 
"I'm excited for our next opportunity as we head to Pepperdine and LMU next weekend," said Alverson. "We'll take this bye weekend to reflect, but I think this shows our team that we can compete with anyone in our conference.
 
The best is yet to come."
 
Up Next
After spending the last week and a half at home, the Toreros will head back on the road for the final road trip before the conference tournament. San Diego will travel to Pepperdine next Thursday, followed by a Saturday matchup against LMU two days later. Tip-off against the Waves is slated for 6 p.m. before a 4 p.m. matchup against the Lions. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+. 
 
Torero Tidbits

• With her 25 points, Kylie Ray recorded her 10th game this season with at least 20 points. 
• Over Ray's last 12 games, she is averaging 19 points and 5.5 rebounds. 
• Ray also played all 40 minutes against the Bulldogs, marking the fourth time she has played an entire game this season. 
• Olivia Owens registered her third straight game with a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. 
• Owens played 38 minutes, marking the fourth straight game and eighth overall with at least 35 minutes of action. 
• Also seeing a big chunk of minutes Thursday was Lilly Amor, who logged 37:40. It is the fourth time in the last five games the sophomore has played at least 35 minutes in a game and sixth time this season.