Nov. 17, 2009
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Playing their second game of the new season, the Pacific women's basketball team picked up its first win of 2009-10 with a 67-54 win over Southern Utah on Tuesday, November 17.
The win moved the Tigers to 1-1 on the year while the Thunderbirds fell to 0-2 overall.
After allowing the last two opponents to notch over 90 points each, the Tiger defense pulled together and forced 29 turnovers from the Thunderbirds, including seven blocks on the night. Two blocks came at the hand of junior Jennifer Fath (Carrollton, Texas) accounting for a career high in a single game for Fath. She didn't stop there, however, as Fath pulled down eight rebounds for another career high mark in a single game.
Out of the gate, Pacific's defense stayed strong and limited Southern Utah to points solely off four free throws by Challis Pascucci within the game's first two minutes as both teams tangled at 4-4. From 17:46 to 10:36, the Tigers went on a 13-0 run powered by nine points from Fath to take the lead, 17-4. It wasn't until another whistle at 10:36 that the Thunderbirds went to the line once again and scored their fifth point in the game off of free throws, inching closer but still trailing, 17-5.
Pacific retaliated with a layup from sophomore Andrea Swanson (Littleton, Colo.) at 10:32, and kept the Thunderbirds from hitting their first field goal until 9:01. Trailing 19-5, Cassie Burgess hit the Thunderbirds' first shot from the field, sinking a three-pointer to trail 19-8.
Despite 18 turnovers in the first half alone, Southern Utah stayed close with the Tigers due solely to Pacific's 14 fouls in that stanza. Pascucci and Dani Hosking accounted for nine of the Thunderbirds' free throws in that half, as both teams went back to the locker rooms within one point of each other at the half. Southern Utah nearly closed the gap, but the Tigers kept the advantage leading 32-31 after the contest's first 20 minutes.
During the second half, Southern Utah briefly took the lead after a pair of free throws from Stephanie Sampson and a jumper by Chanel Thorley at 17:34 gave the Thunderbirds the 35-32 lead. After a three-minute scoring drought in the second half, senior Emma Head (San Diego, Calif.) gave Pacific its first points of the half when she tallied a layup at 17:14. Head converted the three-point opportunity after she was fouled by Thorley and sank her free throw to bring Pacific back to knot the score at 35-35. Head then gave the Tigers the lead at 16:30, when she chipped in another layup to give Pacific a 37-35 advantage.
In the next play, sophomore Eliza Dy (Chino Hills, Calif.) forced a turnover from Sampson and sprinted the ball up the court for a fast break layup without defender, that gave Pacific a 39-35 advantage at 15:56. From 17:34 until 14:28, the Tigers went on a 12-2 run, putting Pacific up 44-37 in the game's final 14 minutes.
Over the course of the next seven minutes, both teams could only muster a combined nine points, with the Thunderbirds leading the 5-4 scoring run. With 8:09 to play, Pacific continued to pace the Thunderbirds, 48-42. After Southern Utah responded with two more points at 7:15, freshman Kendall Rodriguez (La Harbra, Calif.) chipped in her first collegiate basket at 7:02 to put Pacific up 50-44.
Rodriguez's basket kicked off an 11-0 run in which the Tigers kept Southern Utah scoreless for four-straight minutes to seal the victory, 59-44 with 3:11 remaining.
Thorley broke the Thunderbirds' skid and attempted to bring them back into contention after making three layups by the 2:35 mark to cut the deficit at 59-48. But two more free baskets from Head at 1:47 moved Pacific up on the scoreboard, 61-48.
Head closed out the night as the Tigers' leading scorer with 13 points and seven rebounds. Behind Head, Fath and freshman Erica McKenzie (Sparks, Nev.) each tallied 11 points to help lead Pacific to its first victory this season.
Thorley led all players with 16 total points, while her Thunderbird teammate, Pascucci was the only player to record a double-double after tallying 10 points and 14 rebounds.
The Tigers next travel to the East Coast where they will play a two-game swing in New York and New Jersey. Pacific first takes on Iona on Friday, Nov. 20. Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. locally, 9 a.m. PST.
