Jan. 26, 2006

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - Four players finished in double figures in points as the Pacific Tigers women's basketball team ran to a rout of Cal Poly, 87-53, on Thursday, Jan. 26.

With the win the Tigers moved to 5-13 on the season and 2-4 in the Big West Conference, while Cal Poly dropped to 9-7 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

The Tigers could not have asked for a better start to the contest as they were able to open up the game on an 11-1 run, from which they would never look back. Pressed into a running game against the Mustangs, the Tigers responded building a first half lead of 20 points at 27-7 with just over eight minutes to play. Nothing could faze Pacific as they played through a short 7-0 run by Cal Poly, only to push their lead back up to 20 points at 36-16 with 1:40 to play in the half. The Tigers would eventually settle for an 18 point halftime lead.

Little changed for Pacific in the second half, as the Tigers continued to out run the tempo the Mustangs tried to establish, steadily increasing their lead throughout the second half. Pacific would extend its lead to as much as 37 twice throughout the half, finally ending the game with a 34 point win, 87-53.

The Tigers played an all around team game to defeat the Mustangs, tallying a season-high 27 assists on the night. Four Tigers finished with four or more assists, led by freshman Whitney Price (Las Vegas, Nev.) and junior Wyvonne Jones (Wichita, Kan.) whom each had six. In addition, Price finished the night with 11 rebounds and played stellar defense drawing four offensive charges in the first half, while Jones tallied 11 points and pulled down seven boards.

Offensively, four Tigers finished in double-digits led by senior Carolina Ruiz (Paradise, Calif.) who emerged from a small slump to post 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting. Ruiz also pulled down nine rebounds, falling just one short of her third double-double. She was followed by junior Jerise Freeman (Wichita, Kan.) who netted 17 points and sophomore Kelsey Lavender (Lake Oswego, Ore.) with 15 points, showing why she is the top three-point threat in the conference as she dropped 4-of-7 from downtown. Rounding out the scoring was Jones.

The Mustangs played 14 players throughout the game, two of which scored in double-figures. Megan Harrison tallied 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting to lead the Mustangs while Sparkle Anderson added 17 points on 8-of-19 shooting.

On the night, the Tigers outshot the Mustangs 51.4%-to-25.6% from the floor and 35.3%-to-0.0% from behind the arc as the Mustangs were 0-for-18 from distance.

The win marked the Tigers' first win in six attempts, snapping a five game losing streak and a four game conference losing streak. In addition, the victory matched the Tigers' overall and conference win totals from a season ago.

Pacific's 87 points was the highest total the team had scored at home since January 31, 2004 when the Tigers scored 82 against Cal State Northridge. The 34 point margin of victory was the largest for the Tigers since a 42 point win (92-50) over Sacramento State on December 11, 2002.

The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 28 as Pacific hosts UC Santa Barbara at 3 p.m.