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SAN FRANCISCO – It took heroics by the San Francisco women's basketball team to force extra periods – twice – but the Dons eventually succumbed to the visiting Long Beach State 49ers 85-82 on Sunday at War Memorial Gym.
The Dons were led on the night by 16 points from freshman
Rachel Howard, and a 15-point, 12-rebound performance by junior
Taj Winston. All told, the Dons had five double-digit scorers in the mix, with
Jamie Katuna,
Claudia Price and
Taylor Proctor each reaching at least 10 points in the contest. But the Dons were sunk by a deadly combination of 28 turnovers that led to 27 Long Beach State points, and 20 offensive rebounds that accounted for 14 points for the 49ers.
Accounting for nearly half of the offensive production, based on these two categories alone, leaving nine points off the board in missed free throws after shooting 16-of-25 from the stripe for the game was the nail on the proverbial coffin.
"It's very hard to win if you turn the ball over 28 times, and they were, in my mind, unforced turnovers," head coach
Jennifer Azzi said after the heartbreaker. "That's something that we absolutely have to fix and, we had talked about it at halftime of the game. And then we can't give up 20 offensive rebounds, that killed us as well. I just think we let them take us out of our game."
The Dons built a 10-point lead after the halftime break. Heading into the second period down 30-28, USF capitalized on a quick layup by Winston to tie the game 11 ticks into the half. After a Lauren Spargo three to answer for the 49ers, the Dons reeled off the next 11 points, with Katuna accounting for nine in an offensive burst.
Proctor's steal and layup with 17:23 to play gave the Dons an eight point lead, and USF got a putback by
Zhané Dikes to extend it to 10 on the next possession as the score was 43-33. All told, the Dons went on a 17-3 run that spanned the final minute of the first half through the first three minutes of the second.
Long Beach State responded with a 13-3 run of its own to knot the game at 46-46 after a Jade Wilson layup found its mark with 9:38 remaining in the contest. The Dons and 49ers remained locked in a two-possession battle down the stretch of regulation, with Long Beach State with the advantage. A USF turnover led to an Alex Sanchez layup with 4:59 to play and the 49ers up six points, but USF would continue to dig deep to find answers.
With Long Beach State up five points with 1:45 to play after converting both shots of a 1-and-1, Proctor swished a 3-pointer with 39.9 second to play. On the 49ers ensuing possession, again culminating with a trip to the line, Sanchez missed on the back end and Winston came up with a timely defensive rebound. With 7.1 ticks remaining on the clock, Winston drained a three to send the game to its first overtime period with the score at 61-61.
The extra period started with Long Beach State jumping to a five-point lead, but USF clawed back to tie the contest at 68 apiece on a driving layup by Proctor. After a successful trip to the free throw line by Sanchez to put the 49ers back with the advantage, Proctor had her own opportunity at the line and sunk them both with 10.3 seconds to play in the period.
The second overtime started yet again with a Long Beach State bucket, but Winston answered to give USF its first lead since a
Paige Spietz putback with 8:52 to play in regulation. A layup by Howard with 2:30 to play extended the Dons' lead to two points, 82-80, and forced a 49ers timeout. After the break in the action, Long Beach State scored the final five points in the period to escape from War Memorial Gym with an 85-82 victory over the Dons.
For the 49ers, Raven Benton finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds to lead her team to its first win of the season. The Dons and the 49ers stand at 1-2 on the season after the double-overtime game. This marks the first multiple-overtime game USF has played since a 101-96 triple-overtime win at Colorado State Nov. 13, 2007.
I'm not happy about turnovers and mistakes, but two overtimes, our team not giving up – there's a lot of the effort stuff that I'm proud of, but there's certainly a lot that we need to fix when we get to our next game," Azzi said. "I think overall we're a young team so this was a maturity game for them. Hopefully, they will learn from it and we're going to get ready for our next game."
The Dons are back in action Wednesday as the team travels to San Jose State for a 7 p.m. tip.
