Dec. 20, 2008
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Behind senior Amber Simmons' (Chico, Calif.) third double-double of the season, the Pacific women's basketball team held off a late rally by Seattle University to come away with a 71-65 win on Saturday, December 20. The win moved the Tigers to 4-5 on the season and a perfect 4-0 at home while the Redhawks fell to 4-6 overall.
After struggling on the road the previous week, the Tigers reasserted themselves in the win column at home at the Alex G. Spanos Center by reasserting themselves on the boards while dominating the matchup offenisvely in the paint. Overall the Tigers outrebounded their opponents 43-21 on the night, led by Simmons' game-high and career-high 14 rebounds. On the offensive glass, Pacific held a 15-4 edge.
After losing the opening tip, Pacific took immediate control of the contest with an 8-0 run to start the game, grabbing a lead that would not be relinquished for the entire 40 minutes. On her way to her fifth 20+ point game of the year, Simmons led the Tigers with six of their first eight points and eight of their first 10, establishing the Tigers on the blocks and in the paint as Pacific held a 46-28 advantage down low for the game.
The Tigers would push their lead to as much as 11 points at 14-3 midway through the half before the Rehawks mounted a 19-10 rally over an eight minute span to close the game to just two points with just under six miunutes to play. Despite seeing their opening lead vanish, Pacific closed the opening half out on a tear, outscoring Seattle 18-5 to build a 15 point halftime lead. Strong play by senior Karen Dawkins (Colorado Springs, Colo.) on the boards allowed the Tigers to break the half open while six different Pacific scorers put their names in the scorebook during the run. Dawkins finished the game with six rebounds and eight points, all coming in the opening half.
Up big, the Tigers could not sustain their furious pace (58.1% shooting in the first half) while the Redhawks found their offensive rhythm in the second half (54.5% shooting in the half) to bring the game back to within reach. Behind Breanna Salley, who caught fire from the floor in the half, Seattle stormed back into the game over the first 13 miunutes of the half to cut a Tiger lead the grew as large as 17, back to with in just three points. Salley, who had eight points in the first half, took over the game offensively for Seattle University, pouring in 20 points in the second half alone to finish the contest with a game-high 28 points.
However, despite Salley's best efforts, the Tigers kept the Redhawks at bay in the final minutes by going back inside to Simmons and hitting their free-throws when sent to the line. With the score at 64-63 with 3:00 minutes to play, Simmons put the game away for the Tigers with six points in the final three minutes of play to finish with 25 points.
From the floor, the two teams were nearly equal with the Redhawks shooting 44.9% (22-of-49) to the Tigers' 44.8% (30-of-67). Pacific posted a season-best 18 assists in the contest, led by senior Amy VanHollebeke's (Carlsbad, Calif.) seven assists, tying her career-high. Senior Janae Young (Sacramento, Calif.) came back from a rough road trip to post 11 points in the game on 5-of-16 shooting. The senior wing added five rebounds, two assists and a season-best four steals to the Tigers' cause.
Salley hit 10-of-18 from the floor and 2-of-5 from distance to lead the way for the Redhawks while Elle Kerfoot added 10 point on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor. From behind the arc, the Redhawks hit 5-of-13 while the Tigers hit just 2-of-13 three-point attempts. Pacific's two three-pointers marked a season low for the Tigers.
Pacific will put its perfect 4-0 home record on the line again on Monday, December 22 as the Tigers host Northern California rival Sacramento State at the Alex G. Spanos Center. Game time is scheduled for 5:00 pm.
