LAS VEGAS – The second round of the West Coast Conference tournament couldn't have been more exciting to witness as No. 5 Pacific women's basketball pulled out with a gritty 72-66 victory over No. 8 San Diego on Friday at Orleans Arena.
"We talked a lot about playing 40 minutes and I thought we did that," head coach Bradley Davis said. "We had some lapses and things not go our way. We bounced back very quickly. We kept turning things into positives. A lot of credit to our players for that."
Four Tigers scored in double figures with graduate student Cecilia Holmberg leading the way with 19 points and seven rebounds. Senior Liz Smith tallied 17 points and six assists. Junior Anaya James had 12 points and six rebounds while teammate Elizabeth Elliott registered 10 points and four boards.
There were 12 ties and 15 lead changes throughout the game.
It was tied at 36-all at halftime. Pacific (17-13, 8-8 WCC) started the third quarter with a second chance layup from Elliott that ignited a 12-4 run. The Tigers had the eight-point advantage as a result, 48-40. San Diego (9-22, 4-12 WCC) stormed back with nine unanswered points to jump back in front, 49-48.
Both teams traded back and forth points that tied the game at 53-all going into the fourth.
The Toreros went up by five with 5:34 left in the game, 62-57. Down to the wire, Deaton contributed two free throws while James and Holmberg registered back to back buckets to bring the Tigers within one, 64-63.
The final two minutes were crucial after Holmberg tied the game at 65-all. Deaton had an opportunity at the charity stripe to give Pacific back the lead but missed both free throws. Seconds later, the Wausau, Wis. native rebounded with a steal and a fast break layup that got the Tigers up by two, 67-65.
Deaton made another significant play at the 43-second mark as she caused a jump ball that went Pacific's way.
With the ball back, James found Smith on the left side who dribbled the ball to the basket for the and one.
Smith and James notched one final free throw apiece to put the icing on the cake.
The Tigers shot 28-of-69 (.406) while the Toreros were 26-of-59 (.441). Pacific was 5-of-15 (.333) from the three-point line compared to San Diego's 2-of-11 (.182).
The Tigers outscored the Toreros 40-30 in the paint and had 21 points off 19 turnovers.
"Our goal is the highest achievement possible and we're not going to say anything other than that," Smith said. "We've really come together as a team and battled through injuries and we're super healthy now. We're super excited to keep moving forward in this tournament."
Up next, Pacific faces No. 4 San Francisco in the WCC quarterfinals at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
NOTES
-This was the 37
th meeting between Pacific and San Diego. The Tigers extend their winning streak against the Toreros to four and are 3-1 when playing them at neutral sites.
-Pacific is now 13-7 when scoring 70 or more points in a game and 10-2 when shooting the most three-pointers.
-With the victory, the Tigers have now won nine games in the WCC tournament since rejoining to the league in 2013.
-Smith is seven points away from becoming the third Tiger this season to reach 1,000 career points. James and Elliott registered the milestone in the regular season finale against Santa Clara (Mar. 2).
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