STOCKTON, Calif. – A strong second and third quarters built a Pacific women's basketball lead as large as 15, which the team would need to stave off a fourth quarter rally from San Diego on Tuesday afternoon and claim the 72-68 decision at the Alex G. Spanos Center and move to 2-0 in conference play.

Senior Sydney Ward was the engine that got Pacific (7-6, 2-0 WCC) going in the second quarter, scoring seven of the 17 Tigers points that propelled Pacific to a nine-point halftime lead. Outside of the second quarter, Ward was equally effective with a final line of 19 points (6-8 FG, 1-1 3-pt), eight rebounds, two assists and a steal. Her 19 points set a new career-high, topping her previous 17-point best at San Diego State earlier in the month. The senior's successes on the boards have been a good indicator on the team's success, going 6-3 this season when Ward secures five or more rebounds, winning five straight such instances.

Once the game got to the waning moments of the fourth quarter, it was freshman Liv Yergensen who stepped up and iced the game in Pacific's favor, hitting a free throw with seven seconds left to extend the Tigers lead to four points. The shot punctuated a ten-point day for the freshman, nearly matching her scoring output from the last three games combined and her 23 minutes on the court is her heaviest workload since playing 35 minutes against Cal State Fullerton in November.

Playing opposite Yergensen in the backcourt was sophomore Daria Nestorov who turned it on in the second half, scoring nine of her 13 points in the closing half. The Serbia native closed December having raised her season scoring average by 2.5 points after averaging 13.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game during the month. Her prowess setting up her teammates to score ranked third in the WCC in the final month of 2025.

Off the bench junior Marina Radocaj continued to give the team valuable minutes and production, logging 25 minutes of action and putting up a final ledger of nine points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks. The two blocks give her an even 50 wearing the orange and black, which gives her sole possession of 17th place all-time and moves to three blocks from passing Danielle Peacon for 16th.

Coming up next for Pacific is a tour of Oregon after the new year, first taking on defending WCC champion Oregon State on Friday at Gill Coliseum before going to the Chiles Center to face Portland on Sunday. Pacific swept Oregon State last season behind two overtime wins in Stockton while suffered two setbacks to the Pilots.

Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.

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