Feb. 3, 2007
Box Score
STOCKTON, Calif. - Freshman Jake Kelly matched her career-highs with 21 points and five three-point field goals as the Pacific women's basketball team held off Long Beach State, 77-72, in a Big West Conference contest at the Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday, Feb. 3.
Senior Jerise Freeman added a double-double for the Tigers with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Two other Tigers neared double-double performances, as sophomore Whitney Price added nine points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Karen Dawkins had 14 points and nine rebounds.
With the win, Pacific improved to 8-15 overall and 2-7 in Big West Conference action. Long Beach State dropped to 5-18 overall (2-7 Big West).
Even as the Tigers scored a season-high 77 points against the 49ers, the contest came down to Pacific's defense and for the second time in conference play, a blocked shot from the most unlikely of Tiger defenders.
Down two points with just over one minute to play, Kelly took a feed from junior Kelsey Lavender (Lake Oswego, Ore.) in the right corner and calmly buried what would be the game-winning three-pointer to put the Tigers up 73-72. With the momentum on her side and her adrenaline pumping, Kelly again rose to the occasion as she punctuated the win for the Tigers with a game saving block of a go-ahead three-point attempt by Karina Figueroa with :25 seconds to play. The block was the second of her career and her second game saving block of the conference season. The Tigers would hit four free throws over the final :20 seconds to put away the win.
As she was the hero at the end of the game, Kelly was also the catalyst that got the Tigers going in the beginning of the game as she posted the Tigers' first six points of the contest, hitting from distance twice to open the game. Throughout the first 11:40 of the game, the Tigers were able to push their lead to as much as nine points at 23-14, scoring from the outside and also off the dribble.
However, just as the Tigers were able to steadily build their lead, Long Beach State was able to cut away at their deficit over the final nine minutes of the first half, tying the game with 2:36 remaining and eventually sending the game into the break down one point at 34-33. Six different 49ers scored during the stretch, led by Ally Wade's five points. The 49ers comeback was spurred on by an eight minute field goal drought by the Tigers to end the half.
In the second half, the Tigers again came out firing as they scored the first five points of the half, but again the 49ers answered, even capturing the lead for the first time in the contest at 43-41 just four minutes into the half. For the next six minutes the two teams traded the lead back-and-forth until the Tigers went on a mini 8-0 run at the 10:13 mark to regain the lead at 63-56 with 8:22 remaining to play. Dawkins scored four of the Tigers' points during the two minute run while Kelly and Price each added a jumper to the Tigers' cause.
Just as before, Long Beach State refused to quit as they stormed back with an 11-1 run of their own to take back the lead with just over four minutes to play. The 49ers were able to capture their largest lead of the night at four points (72-68) with 2:13 remaining, but Pacific posted the final nine points of the contest to come away with their second Big West win of the season.
In addition to her scoring and rebounding, Freeman tallied a season-high five assists in the win, one shy of her career best performance. She also added two steals and one block on the night. Defensively the Tigers posted eight blocks in the game led by Dawkins who swatted away three shot 49er shot attempts. Freshman Emma Head (San Diego, Calif.) had a solid all-around night for the Tigers as she tied her career-high with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Head also had one rebound and one block. Lavender posted just five points in the game but added four rebounds, three assists and one steal. Price finished the night two points shy of her career-high but posted a career-best five steals and season-high four assists. Junior Tyler Moran (Carmel, Calif.) tallied two blocks on the night in the Tigers' defensive showing.
For the 49ers, four players hit the double-digit mark in scoring as Figueroa posted a team-high 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting. She also posted two rebounds and four assists. Joining Figueroa was Kaiti O'Brien, Tyresha Calhoun and Brett Timmons. O'Brien scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Calhoun added 13 points and Timmons tallied 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The Tigers outshot the 49ers 41.8%-to-39.1% from the field while Long Beach State grabbed 46 rebounds, including 20 offensive rebounds, to the Tigers' 44. Long Beach State posted 21 second chance points in the contest. The Tigers were just 24-of-44 from the free throw line on the night while the 49ers hit 14-of-18 from the line.
The win ended the Tigers' six game losing streak and moved the Tigers into a tie for seventh place in the conference with Long Beach State.
Pacific will be back in action on the road on February 8 as they travel to Cal State Fullerton to take on the Titans in Big West action. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
