Nov. 18, 2005

Box Score

Stockton, Calif.: The Pacific Tigers women's basketball team overcame a six point halftime deficit to defeat Texas Southern 72-61 on Friday, November 18th at the Alex G. Spanos Center. With the win, Pacific moves their record to 1-0 on the season, while Texas Southern falls to 0-1.

Texas Southern had control early of what was a very physical game, pushing their lead up to ten at 17-7 on Ahklia Gorman's driving layup with 12:55 remaining in the first half. Pacific then staged a 8-0 run to pull within two at 17-15 with 7:34 remaining in the half, but were unable to tie the game. Texas Southern's lead swelled back up to 11 at 32-21 with 59 seconds remaining in the half, before the Tigers scored the final five points of the half to cut the halftime deficit down to six at 32-26.

Pacific came out of the locker room a different team in the second half, as senior Tina Sanerivi (Waipahu, Hawai'i) scored the first eight points of the half to give her team a 34-32 lead with 17:09 remaining. Texas Southern briefly retook a 39-38 lead on a three-point play by Monica Okolo, but would not regain it the remainder of the game. Pacific went on a 17-8 run, capped off by a Jerise Freeman (Wichita, Kan.) three-pointer, to take a 57-47 lead with 8:58 remaining. The Tigers hit 10 of 14 free throws in the last five minutes to earn the 72-61 victory.

Freeman led all scorers with 23 points in her first collegiate game, to go along with seven rebounds. Freeman's junior-college teammate Wyvonne Jones (Wichita, Kan.) also had a strong first outing, scoring 15 points on 6-7 shooting from the field. Jones, standing just 5'8", had nine rebounds to lead both teams.

Sanerivi finished the game with 14 points, while sophomore Kelsey Lavender (Lake Oswego, Ore.) added 11 points to round out four Tigers in double figures. Okolo scored 19 points to lead Texas Southern, while Stockton native Ahklia Gorman added 13 points off the bench.

Pacific shot 40.7% on the game, including a 48.3% clip in the second half, and held Texas Southern to just 34.4% shooting for the game. Pacific made more free throws (24 made in 39 attempts) than Texas Southern attempted (14 made in 19 attempts).

The Tigers are next in action on Sunday, November 20th as they take on Oregon State. The game is scheduled for a 2:00pm tip off at the Alex G. Spanos Center.