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PORTLAND, Ore. – Sophomore Taylor Proctor has told head coach Jennifer Azzi after misses at the free throw line during the season that she performs better with the game on the line. With 0.7 seconds on the clock after hitting a game-tying layup, the sophomore from Colorado Springs, Colo., had a chance to prove her sentiments correct.
And she did.
"You've got to take whatever the defense gives you, but for Taylor to have the confidence she did to just get it and drive it was outstanding," Azzi said of the game-winning sequence. "The pressure free throw at the end – she's been in that situation before. To really to have that composure at the end of the game was just outstanding."
The San Francisco women's basketball team produced a comeback for the ages at the Chiles Center, downing Portland 74-73 on Thursday night. Proctor's free throw capped a 20-point comeback as the Dons snapped a six-game losing streak to earn its second-straight win in Portland.
"We were trying to draw Tex out and pretend that she was shooting the three, and then we come across and get the ball in," Proctor explained the final play that began on the inbounds play with 3.2 seconds remaining. "We had three seconds so that was enough time to settle down, look for your lane and draw the foul, and that's what we did."
USF was led by senior Alexa Hardick, making her first career start to go off for a career- and team-high 21 points. She began the game going 0-for-6 from the field in the first half, only to regroup out of the gates to start the second. The Dallas, Texas, native was one fire in the second, where she was 5-for-8 from long range in the period.
"Tex – she's a winner, and that's all I can say about Tex," Azzi noted of her lone senior on the roster. "She has been with us through thick and thin so for her to come out and really embrace starting, and shooting 0-for-5 in the beginning, but she's so mentally tough. If you miss one shot it doesn't mean you miss the next one, and she was just outstanding tonight."
Paige Spietz added a career-best 13 points, and Proctor finished with 12 points and team highs of nine rebounds and six assists. Taj Winston finished with a season-high three blocks, and was a defensive key throughout the game.
"It was a great effort by our entire team," Azzi noted. "Taj was really the key to our defense in the second half. Taylor's shot at the end, Jamie [Katuna's] three, and this is one of Paige's best games. Across the board, everybody that came in did big things."
The Dons found themselves digging out of a sizeable hole from the get-go, as USF opened with an eight-minute scoring drought and Portland raced to a 19-0 advantage. An 0-for-10 start from the field coupled with seven early turnovers could have been the demise for the Dons, but instead USF continued to fight – and fight hard.
After getting down by as many as 20 points, USF managed to cut the halftime deficit to 13, despite shooting 27.6 percent in the period and a 1-for-11 effort from 3-point range. Hardick's first points of the game came with 19:33 to play as her three put the score at 39-27 in favor of Portland.
"Honestly, I was a little nervous about starting and I just kind of felt too open in the first half and it made me a little nervous," Hardick admitted. "I just went in at halftime and kind of shook it off and I was like, I've got to throw it up. My teammates did a great job of setting me up, especially Z and Taj and Taylor. Everybody was looking for the penetrate and pitch, and it was just great playing together."
A Spietz layup and successful trip to the line two minutes later edged USF closer as the Pilots held an eight-point lead. But another Dons' drought followed, as Cassandra Thompson's jumper with 13:16 remaining set the score at 57-42.
Zhané Dikes halted the Pilots' 9-2 run with a driving layup and and-1 opportunity followed by a Hardick tripled to put the deficit at single digits yet again. The 3-pointer, her fourth of the night, ignited an 11-0 run. USF took its first lead of the contest when Claudia Price's layup found its mark with 7:17 to play and the Dons up 59-57.
The game stayed a one-possession margin for the remainder of the contest. The score was tied six times in the final seven minutes, and twice in the final minute of action. Hardick layed it up and in with 29 seconds remaining to put the score at 71-all. With the shot clock off, Portland's Amy Pupa leapt for an offensive rebound and putback with four seconds to play to give the Pilots the lead. After a USF timeout with 3.2 seconds on the clock, Proctor's drained the last-second shot and converted the free throw as the Dons celebrated its second-consecutive win at the Chiles Center.
After a first half in which the Dons committed 10 turnovers, USF coughed the ball up just twice more in the second, and shot 51.4 percent from the floor to scrap its way back to the lead. The win marks the fifth time in the 2013-14 season that USF has erased a double-digit deficit to come back and win a game. The 20-point comeback counts as the largest in the Azzi era as USF improves to 8-13 (3-7 WCC) on the year. Portland moves to 11-10 and stands one game ahead of the Dons in the WCC standings with a conference mark of 4-6.
"We were due for a win, and we've been talking about it," Hardick said after the victory that snapped a six-game slide. "We've been practicing so hard, and I'm so proud of my team and our coaching staff. They've never given up on us and our team, and we just fight so hard every game and in practice. We've just got to keep going."
USF closes out the road trip to the Pacific Northwest against Gonzaga Saturday at 2 p.m.
