Nov. 28, 2007
Box Score
STOCKTON, Calif. - The Pacific women's basketball team fell to 3-2 on the season with an 82-68 non-conference loss to Saint Mary's (5-2) on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
For 35 minutes of the contest, the Tigers and the Gaels played even with the ebbs and flows of the game giving each team long stretches with the lead while never being able to break away. Pacific held leads as large as six points three times throughout the first half while Saint Mary's was able to build a nine point lead midway through the second half, their largest lead of the first 35 minutes of play.
However, with every lead came a counter attack that evened the game the last of which came from the Tigers as they climbed to within two points with 4:58 to play in the contest. Down two, the Tigers appeared to be in control of the momentum of the contest and on the verge of getting over the hump and taking back the lead. But, three turnovers later, the Gaels were back up by nine points and running away with the game. Saint Mary's was able to pull away from Pacific with staunch defense and easy baskets to take home the 14 point win. The Gaels closed the contest on a 14-2 run.
Leading the onslaught for the Gaels in the second half was Luella Tomlinson as she dominated the second half of play with 20 points, six rebounds, and eight blocks. Tomlinson had been held in check the first half of play, finishing the opening 20 minutes with just two points, but as the pace of the game slowed in the second half, Tomlinson was able to use her 6-4 frame to take over the game and stifle Pacific's counter-attack to the Gaels' final run to close the game. In the final five mintues of play, Tomlinson scored six points and posted four of her eight blocks to keep the Tigers at bay.
On the night the Tigers were led by sophomore Jake Kelly (Fair Oaks, Calif.) who dropped in 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Kelly had five points in the first half of play as the Tigers took a three point lead into the break. Freshman Andrea Swanson (Littleton, Colo.) posted 12 points in the contest with seven in the first half to lead Pacific in scoring during the opening frame.
Two other Tigers posted double-digit scoring junior Janae Young (Sacramento, Calif.) dropped in 12 points in the contest, 10 of which came in the second half, nine of which came during a two minute stretch from 10:27 to go in the game until 8:22 remained when the Tigers stormed back into the contest. Junior Amy Van Hollebeke (San Diego, Calif.) posted 10 points in the loss while dishing out seven assists to her teammates.
While Tomlinson dominated the second half, the sharp shooting of Jontelle Smith kept the Gaels in the game in the first half as she posted 13 first half points, including a last second three pointer that cut the Tigers' lead in half heading into the break. Smith equaled Tomlinson in the scoring department for the game as she posted 22 points for the full 40 minutes. Both Smith and Tomlinson shot 50% from the floor while the Gaels as a team shot 45.6%.
Two other Gaels reached the 10+ point plateau as both Serena Benavente and Sierra Chambers added 12 points in the win. They each hit four shots from the floor as Benavente went 4-of-11 while Chambers was 4-of-6.
On the night the Tigers outrebounded the Gaels, 46-38, but 24 turnovers to the Gaels 19 kept the Tigers from coming back late in the contest.
Junior Karen Dawkins (Colorado Springs, Colo.) made her return to the floor for the Tigers on the night, posting five points and two rebounds in eight minutes of action. Junior Whitney Price (Las Vegas, Nev.) playing in her third game back grabbed 12 rebounds, two short of her career high set last season against the Gaels.
Pacific will be back in action on Sunday, December 2 as they travel to Greely, Colo. to take on Northern Colorado. The game is scheduled for 2:00 pm (MT).
