Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- Portland led San Diego by six late, but the Toreros would out-score the Pilots 12-0 the rest of the way to claim a 72-66 win in a West Coast Conference women’s basketball game played in front of a national television audience on Thursday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Natalie Day led the Pilots with 21 points.
After trailing by eight points with 11:39 to play, Portland (8-13, 1-6 WCC) would embark on a lengthy 21-7 run to claim a 66-60 lead. Day and ReZina TecleMariam each hit a big three-pointer during the outburst, which gave the Pilots the six-point advantage with 4:45 showing on the clock.
That’s when San Diego (13-4, 4-1 WCC) applied full court pressure, which gave the Pilots all sorts of troubles. UP had a handful of costly turnovers down the stretch, while USD capitalized by knocking down shots and converting free throws. Morgan Woodrow pulled the Toreros within one on a three-pointer, and Dominique Conners gave USD a lead it wouldn’t relinquish with a pair of free throws with 2:06 to play.
The Toreros continued with the full court pressure, and would seal the win with more free throws and a lay-up by Izzy Chilcott.
The Pilots shot a season-best 51 percent from the floor, but hurt themselves with 24 turnovers. San Diego shot 42 percent and had just 10 miscues.
Day hit three three-pointers to reach 20 points for the second straight game and for the eighth time this year.
Cassandra Brown was a perfect three-for-three from behind the three-point arc and finished with 17 points, while Kari Luttinen scored 13 points for the second straight game.
Woodrow led USD with 24 points.
The first half was back-and-forth as both teams took turns making a run. After San Diego scored the game’s first four points, the Pilots responded with 12 straight to take an eight-point lead. TecleMariam had four points during the mini-run, including a lay-up to give UP the 12-4 lead nine minutes in.
The Toreros responded though, and would soon look in control with a 32-23 lead and just 90 seconds remaining in the half. That’s when the Pilots peeled off nine unanswered points, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Brown to tie the score at 32-32 at the half.
Brown had 10 points at the half to lead the Pilots, while Luttinen had 9 points, which included two traditional three-point plays.
The Pilots next travel to Provo, Utah, for another nationally televised game against the BYU Cougars on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. (Pacific), and the game will be broadcasted live on BYUtv.
The UP-USD game was carried live on CBS College Sports.
