LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Pacific women's basketball team (15-16) continued its dominant UCU WCC Tournament run as the Tigers defeated the #3 seed San Diego (17-13) with a 71-57 victory.
"We passed up a couple of good looks," said Head Coach Bradley Davis on the fourth-quarter improvement. "We were just holding onto it (the ball) too tight, and I thought after that the team just played composed and took what was there and did not panic whatsoever."
Junior Liz Smith led the team in scoring with 14 points and went 8-9 from the charity stripe. Junior Cecilia Holmberg added 13 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Redshirt junior Rosie Schweizer put up 12 points and eight rebounds. Senior Sam Ashby rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Anaya James dished out five assists and collected two steals.
Pacific's domination in the paint continued, putting up 38 points inside while holding San Diego to just 26 points. Pacific's bench also dominated the game, putting up 37 points, while San Diego scored just nine.
Both defenses showed out for much of the first quarter, as the two teams were tied at six with 4:31 left in the first quarter. Pacific went on a 7-3 run to close out the quarter as Holmberg hit a three to break the tie and then four free-throws to take a 13-9 lead into the second.
The Tigers and Toreros went back and forth in the second quarter, with most of the quarter being a one-score game before Pacific pulled away late on a 7-2 run to take a five-point lead into the half.
The third quarter continued much like the first two, with San Diego nipping at Pacific's heels but never able to cut into the lead as the Tigers continued to rebound well and keep San Diego from going on a run to close the gap.
Learning from mistakes made in the Saint Mary's game, Pacific played a much cleaner fourth quarter Saturday afternoon. The Pacific lead was never less than five, and after a Myah Pace jumper cut the lead to seven, the Tigers scored nine straight to seal the trip to the semifinals.
Pacific will face the #2 seed Portland at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, March 6, at the Orleans Arena.
