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WCC Championships Central
LAS VEGAS – For the second-straight game, the San Francisco women's basketball team took on Loyola Marymount in a nail-biter. And for the second-straight game, it took another wild finish provided by the hand of
Taj Winston to get the job done as the Dons took down the Lions 63-62 in the first round of the West Coast Conference Championship tournament Thursday at the Orleans Arena.
For the Dons, it marks the second consecutive year with a first round win in the conference tournament as USF stands at 12-18 (6-12 WCC) on the year after advancing to the league quarterfinals. USF, seeded eighth in the bracket, will face conference regular-season champion and No. 21/19 Gonzaga.
"I'm really proud of the effort of our team tonight," head coach
Jennifer Azzi said. "I wouldn't say it was our best night offensively, but for Taj at the end to not only get the steal, but like five rebounds in a row and a putback was simply outstanding. She kept saying the whole game, 'we're not going to lose this game'."
The winning mantra echoed throughout the game for the junior from Long Beach, Calif., proved to be true.
With 1.0 second remaining, Winston powered up her second putback attempt and her layup found the bottom of the twine to put the Dons up by a point. Echoing the finish at War Memorial Gym less than a week ago, the Lions faltered on the inbounds play and USF secured the basketball for the victory.
Winston closed the night leading nearly every statistical category for the Dons with team-highs of 16 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks.
Taylor Proctor contributed 13 points and seven boards and senior
Alexa Hardick added 12 points, all from 3-point range and all in the second half. Denae Mary Williams, also provided a much-needed spark in the second half, finishing with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting in 16 minutes of action.
To set up the game-winning shot, the Dons faced an uphill challenge in the second half. USF found itself in a double-digit deficit with 18:31 to play after Mackenzie Kerins hit the back end of her trip to the line to put the score at 37-27 in favor of the Lions. Minutes later, USF sliced the lead to two after Hardick swished her first 3-pointer, Williams powered through a layup and Proctor's drive to the basket with 15:39 remaining put the score at 39-37.
Loyola Marymount extended the lead back up to seven points after Deanna Johnson's two made free throws put the score at 56-49 with 7:48 to play. Then, the Dons' defense went to work as the USF offense scored the next eight points of the game.
During the nearly four-minute span, the Lions went 0-for-8 from the field with two turnovers as Hardick's long-range rainbow gave the Dons a 57-56 advantage with 3:01 on the clock. The lead was the first for USF since the score was 17-16 midway through the first period of play.
The game continued in back-and-forth fashion for the remainder of the contest, and Johnson's jumper with 1:32 gave Loyola Marymount the 62-61 lead. USF's next offensive possession resulted in a turnover and the Lions called a timeout to set up their next attack, but Winston was at the ready for what was going to happen next.
"LMU's game is pretty much one-on-one, and I knew the whole time they were either going to go through Deanna Johnson or Hazel Ramirez," Winston explained. "The whole time I knew Deanna was going to try to clear me out to either draw the foul or go the whole way. We had to get that stop. Tex was like, 'we need to get a stop, we need to get a stop.' I knew if I cut Deanna off she was going to try and pull up so I just made sure I had to stay down, have high hands, and try to wait for that shot to come up. I knew she was going to try to raise up over me, she had been doing it all game, and I just timed it as best as I could."
Winston recorded her third block of the game on the play and thwarted Loyola Marymount's attempt to extend the lead past a point. Another empty possession ensued for USF, but Winston again came to the rescue, stealing the inbounds pass with 15 seconds to play to give the Dons the last possession of the game. As Winston's last-second putback put USF ahead for the final time of the night, the jubilant crowd behind the bench erupted as the final buzzer sounded.
USF finished the game being outrebounded 45-37 in the contest, and 17 to 12 on the offensive glass. The Lions scored 22 second-chance points in the game, but of USF's 10 points on second efforts, the final two sealed the win for the Dons.
Playing as the No. 8 seed for the fourth-straight year, USF advances to a quarterfinal matchup with Gonzaga. In USF's game with Gonzaga in Spokane, the last meeting between the two, the Dons led for the majority of the first period, falling behind by four points at the break. USF shot a season-high 70.8 percent in the first half before cooling in the second as the Bulldogs pulled away for the easy win.
 "Obviously, Gonzaga is a very, very good program and a very, very good team," Azzi noted. "I think our players are in a really good place right now. To have won our last three games, they're very confident. Obviously, there are a lot of things that we need to do in order to come out successful tomorrow. I have complete faith in our team, but we've got to put our best game together. They're excited and we're excited."
Gonzaga, who stands at 26-4 on the season, poses a difficult tournament draw. The Bulldogs are defending tournament champions and have won four of the last five tournaments since the championship was located in Las Vegas. But the Dons are unfazed and excited for the quarterfinals challenge.
"We've been waiting for this moment, and we've been wanting to come out and pull upsets that nobody expects us to win," Winston said. "We're finally being heard, we're finally playing together and people can see us. People know that when we come on the court, we're going to play hard regardless of who they are. We're going to play our game. We've been waiting for this, and we're ready for anything."
The Dons and Bulldogs are slated for a 6 p.m. tip on Friday. Watch live on BYUtv (check local listings) or view the game online at theW.tv/live.
Day 1 Recap from theW.tv
