MORAGA, Calif. – The Pacific women's basketball team forced a stop at the buzzer to prevent overtime as the Tigers won their fifth WCC game 56-53 Thursday night at the UCU Pavilion.

Behind the Tigers' (10-14, 5-8 WCC) win was an opportunistic defense that forced 13 steals – a season high against division one competition. At the forefront of that defense was sophomore Daria Nestorov who registered five steals, the second time in her career she's gone for five-plus steals. She was not the only one with a penchant for steals on the night as true freshman Sophia Mindermann put up her new career high four steals and senior Sydney Ward got three.

In Head Coach Bradley Davis' tenure, Pacific is 67-48 when notching over ten steals and, over the last two seasons, 9-1 when eclipsing 12 steals. The 18 Gaels (14-12, 5-8 WCC) turnovers was also the most Pacific has forced an opponent into during conference play.

Resulting from the steals was a decided Pacific advantage in points off turnovers, outscoring Saint Mary's 20-12. Nestorov was especially able to take advantage of the breakaway looks and scored a game high 17 points (6-12 FG, 1-3 3pt, 4-6 FT). She also dished out six assists.

In addition to her steals, Ward very nearly posted the fourth double-double of her career finishing with eight points and ten rebounds. Her night crashing the boards brought her career total to 496 – 38 rebounds away from cracking the all-time rebounding list at Pacific with five regular season games remaining.

Mindermann's night outside of providing steals involved hitting two three-pointers to run her season total to 51, six away from entering the single season three-point list in program history.

Sophomore Winner Bartholomew provided a nice complimentary role to Nestorov's scoring, contributing 13 points of her own.

Pacific returns to the Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday to take on Oregon State, looking for the third straight win over the Beavers in Stockton. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and fans in attendance will help the team celebrate its Pink Game.

Tigers Tickets
Tickets for upcoming events can be purchased through the PacificTigers.com tickets tab, or by calling the Box Office at 209-946-2474.  Groups of 10 or more are eligible for a group discount and exclusive fan experiences.

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