Dec. 11, 2007
Box Score
Sacramento, Calif. Despite rallying back from a 13-point halftime deficit to pull even at 85-85, the Pacific women's basketball team suffered a heart breaking 87-85 loss to Sacramento State in the final seconds on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
The loss dropped Pacific to 3-6 on the season, while Sacramento State moved to 2-8 overall.
A tale of two completely different halves had the Tigers on the brink of their finest comeback in the last four seasons, but in the end Pacific fell for the fifth game in a row.
In the first half of play the Tigers could not stop the Hornets on the offensive side of the floor as Sacramento State had their way with Pacific's defense to the tune of 49 first half points. The 49 points was just three points shy of their season average coming into the game and marked the first time the Hornets had scored over 40 points in a half since the 2004-05 season. For the opening 20 minutes of play, Sacramento State dominated the game from the floor hitting 57.7% of their shots including an impressive 6-of-9 (66.7%) from distance. With the stellar shooting from the field the Hornets were able to capture a 13 point lead heading into the locker rooms at the break.
Pacific was on the verge of getting run out of the building in the first half if not for the efforts of sophomore Emma Head (San Diego, Calif.) and freshman Jennifer Fath (Carrollton, Texas), who came off the bench to score 15 points in the half. Head led the way underneath for the Tigers with 10 first half points in just nine minutes of action while Fath ran the offense, scoring five points in 13 minutes in relief of junior Amy VanHollebeke (San Diego, Calif.). The Tigers shot near their season average during the first half hitting at a 41.4% clip in the opening frame, but poor shooting by their four leading scorers, who combined for just six first half points kept the Tigers at a distance from Sacramento State.
Pacific went with a different look in the second half starting Fath alongside of senior Kelsey Lavender (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and sophomore Jasmine Dana (Bakersfield, Calif.) in the backcourt with Head and junior Whitney Price (Las Vegas, Nev.) playing in the front court. The Tigers would stick with the new lineup for the majority of the second half.
Out of the halftime break, the Tigers looked to chip away at the Hornets' double-digit lead, knocking down the first two first two buckets of the half to close the deficit to single digits. Head continued where she left off in the first half as she opened the second period of play with an open look underneath the basket. Dana followed with a layup of her own. After the Hornets answered back, Fath took over the contest, scoring nine straight points and 11-of-13 for the Tigers in a span of 3:20 to bring the Tigers within four points of Sacramento State at 59-55 with 14:27 to play in the game.
From that point on, the Tigers teetered on the brink of tying the game, never quiet reaching the peak of the mountain the setup before them at half. The Hornets were able to push their lead back up to seven points with just over 10 minutes to play, leading 67-60 with 10:28 to play. For the next 7:42, the Tigers would hold Sacramento State without a field goal, yet with 2:44 to go in the contest, Pacific would only be within five points at 79-74. During the drought from the floor for Sacramento State, the Hornets were able to knock down 9-of-11 free throws to keep Pacific at bay. The Hornets used the charity strip to hold off the Tigers throughout the entire game as they were able to hit 26-of-32 attempts (13-of-16 in each half) to finish the game at 81.3% from the line. Coming into the contest the Hornets were shooting 66.1 % from the line.
Down six with 1:21 to play in the game, the Tigers finally were able to even the score in the contest with back-to-back three pointers from junior Janae Young (Sacramento, Calif.) and junior Renee Roberts (Lodi, Calif.), knotting the game at 85-85 with :18 seconds to play. The tie was the second of its kind in the contest after the game was even at 2-2 just over a minute into the contest. With Pacific having climbed all the way back from the brink of a blowout, Charday Hunt was able to keep the Hornets on top, hitting just her first basket of the ball game with 2.9 seconds to play in the game.
With time for one more shot, Fath brought the ball up court and launched a shot from 29 feet behind the middle of the arc. Her shot banked off the glass and slide through the cylinder for what would have been the game winning shot. However, Fath's prayer came just a tenth of a second too late as her shot was waved off by the officials and the game went to Sacramento State.
In the game, Fath posted 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting with 18 of her points coming in the second half. Her 23 point effort smashed her previous career-high of 13 points set in the Tiger's previous contest against Santa Clara on December 8. Head, the leader in the first half, finished the game with a new career-high as well as she posted 21 points in the loss. Her previous best of 17 points was set last season against the Hornets at the Spanos Center. In addition to scoring, Head nearly had her second double-double of the season as she grabbed nine rebounds. Price, lead the team on the boards as she posted 10 rebounds in the game while scoring six points. Young, scoreless in the first half added 12 points in the second frame.
The Tigers posted 62 points off the bench compared to the Hornet's 25 for the game.
For the Hornets, Atty Boyer led all scorers with a career-best 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting as the Tigers were unable to contain the junior in the post throughout the contest. Three other Hornets scored in double-figures as Sami Field-Polisso posted 16 points while Erika Edwards had 13 and Emily Christensen tallied 12.
Pacific returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 15 as the Tigers travel to San Diego, Calif. to face the San Diego Toreros at 4 p.m.
