Dec. 15, 2007
San Diego, Calif. - The Pacific women's basketball team suffered its sixth consecutive loss as Pacific fell to San Diego, 68-53, on Saturday, Dec. 15.
The loss dropped Pacific to 3-7 on the season, while San Diego moved to 6-4 overall.
From the opening tip the Toreros controlled the play of the game from the floor and on the glass as they cruised past Pacific for their sixth win of the season. Before the Tigers could look up, the Toreros had taken a 10-0 lead in the contest, a deficit Pacific would never fully recover from.
Through the first eight minutes of the game the Tigers scored just three points, all coming from junior Whitney Price (Las Vegas, Nev.) at the free throw line. Down by as much as 11 points with 4:21 to play in the half, the Tigers were able to cut into the Toreros' lead by the halftime buzzer as they trailed by just seven points at the break. In the opening 20 minutes of play, Amber Sprague kept the Tigers at bay as she posted 11 points and nine rebounds to lead the way for the Toreros.
Out of the break the Tigers attempted to immediately get themselves back in the game as they cut the lead to four and had a chance to bring the deficit to a single possession, but an offensive foul ended the Tigers' mini rally and let the Toreros regain the momentum they had lost. Despite Sprague sitting much of the second half due to foul trouble, San Diego was able to out run Pacific for the final 20 minutes of the contest with a small lineup led by Amanda Rego, who posted 13 second half points after scoring just two in the first half. Rego kept the Tigers off balance from the point position with her scoring and her passing as she added eight assists to go along with her 15 points and six rebounds.
Junior Karen Dawkins (Colorado Springs, Colo.) led the Tigers in the scoring column as she posted a season-high 18 points in the contest on 8-of-16 shooting. Dawkins came off the bench for Pacific as the Tigers switched up their starting lineup in an effort to create a spark and end their losing streak which reached six games with the loss. Senior Kelsey Lavender (Lake Oswego, Ore.) posted her first double-digit scoring effort of the season with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from behind the arc, all coming in the second half.
For the Toreros, Sprague posted 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead all scorers as she tallied her fourth double-double of the season. Sprague and Rego were joined in the scoring effort by Kiva Herman who posted 11 points on the night on 4-of-12 shooting. The Toreros dominated the scoring from the free throw line as they hit 19-of-27 free throw attempts while the Tigers shot just 19 free throws, making 11. Rego made 11-of-14 from the line for San Diego.
On the glass the Tigers were outrebounded by the Toreros 50-to-35 with 16 rebounds coming on the offensive glass for San Diego.
The Tigers return to the court on Saturday, Dec. 21 as Pacific hosts Eastern Washington at 7 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.
