LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Valerie Higgins poured in a season-high 25 points and used key contributions off the bench to helps the Pacific women's basketball team (7-3) down St. Francis 71-62 Thursday evening in the Tigers' first game of the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic at South Point Arena. 
 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
 
First Half

• The Tigers' up-tempo offense came to play on Thursday evening with Pacific taking a 9-0 lead in the first two minutes. Sharing the wealth was the name of the game in the early going, as four of the five Tigers on the floor scored before St. Francis called timeout at the 8:01 mark. 
• Jessica Blakeslee and Higgins combined for 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and five rebounds through the 2:00 mark of the second quarter. 
• Pacific owned a stark advantage over the Terriers in points in the paint (18-10) and bench points (9-3) while doubling up St. Francis on the boards with a 16-8 rebounding edge.
• Callie Kaiser led the Tigers off the bench with five points on 2-of-4 shooting. 
• Pacific led wire-to-wire in the first half while shooting 48.3 percent from the floor, a season high for the opening 20 minutes. 

 Second Half

• The Tigers opened the second half similar to the first, going on a 11-0 run midway through the third quarter to take a 48-38 lead past the 4:38 media break – all while forcing five turnovers and holding the Terriers scoreless for nearly five minutes.
• Pacific kept the pressure on in the second half, enjoying a stretch of four of five field goals midway through the fourth quarter to hold the 64-58 lead at the media break. 
• A weekend after seeing Loretta Kakala make her Tiger debut, Jordan Cruz checked in midway through the fourth quarter for her first look at the court as a Tiger.  

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

• Overall, Higgins and Blakeslee combined for 38 points on 14-of-21 shooting, including 4-of-5 from downtown to get Pacific back to its winning ways. 
• Blakeslee reached double figures for the third time this season, logging 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in just the first half.
• Higgins unloaded Thursday evening for a season-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting. The Granada Hill native was named City of Stockton Human Resources Hardworking Player of the Game after combating her electric shooting performance with eight rebounds for another near double-double, to go along with two assists and three steals.
• Pacific got multiple contributions off its bench Thursday evening with Kaiser and Isabel Newman combining for 16 points while Jordan Cruz added three assists in her first action for the Orange and Black.  

WHAT COACH DAVIS SAID:

• ON THE GAME OVERALL: "I'm proud of the team for fixing the little things that we needed to fix against their zone press and their zone defense so that we started scoring a little more with better looks. Individually, I thought Val kept us in it and she had a huge night; not just in the scoring column, but just across the board leading the game, and that was big. In addition, I thought we had some key players off the bench give us some key minutes, from (Isabel) Newman to Callie (Kaiser). Across the board, everybody that came off the bench, you can see in the scoring column that our bench did a good job tonight." 
• ON HIGGINS' GAME: "From the beginning of the game, scored the first bucket of the game for us and then she dribbled it out at the end. She was under control, she was finishing at the rim. We thought it might be a good matchup for her, but she really took advantage."
• ON THE BENCH CONTRIBUTIONS: "It's great energy. Callie brought great energy, Izzy brought great energy. Jordan, she didn't make a shot but she had three assists that led to some big buckets for us. It's good energy across the board." 

UP NEXT:

• Pacific concludes its week in Las Vegas on Friday, December 20 with a 5:00 p.m. tip against Toledo, right back at the South Point Arena. Don Gubbins will have the call from Las Vegas on Pacific All-Access.   

FOLLOW US:

• For more updates and more information on the 2019-20 Pacific women's basketball team, be sure to follow @Pacific_Hoops on Twitter, @pacificwbb on Instagram and @PacificWomensBasketball on Facebook.