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SAN FRANCISCO – Monday night's game versus Notre Dame de Namur was just what the doctor ordered for the San Francisco women's basketball team, as they romped to a 93-43 victory at War Memorial Gym.
Coming off its lowest offensive output of the season and a dismal 19 percent shooting effort on Wednesday at Cal State Northridge, the Dons regrouped to put up 93 points, good for its highest scoring total since a 95-86 win over Eastern Washington on Dec. 18, 2007. The eye-popping 50-point margin of victory is the largest in more than a decade. USF hasn't dismantled its opponent by such a span since a 105-51 season-opening win over UC Riverside to start the 2000-01 campaign.
“I think that this win gave us our confidence back and motivation to get ready for San Jose State,” sophomore
Taj Winston said after her 16-point effort. “That just let us know that we can bounce back from any defeat and we're just working on getting better.”
As soon as sophomore
Alicia Scafidi won the jump in her first start in a USF uniform, the game was smooth sailing. The Dons raced to a 10-0 start after
Taylor Proctor's jumper off the inbounds pass from
Mel Khlok swished the net with just over two minutes off the clock.
USF grew the lead to 30 points as the clock ticked down in the first, again from the hand of Proctor. The freshman from Colorado Springs, Colo., poured in 13 points in the first half to lead all scorers and nearly match the 18 points scored by Notre Dame de Namur by the break.
The second half of action was punctuated by similar results off the hot hand of another freshman for the Dons.
Zhané Dikes earned 15 of her 17 total points in the final period, helped by 5-of-6 shooting from the floor and a 5-of-6 effort from the line in the half. The Dons hit the 40-point margin mark when a pair of free throws from Dikes went in with 12:33 to play. USF eclipsed the 50-point margin with 2:22 remaining in the contest after Winston helped out teammate Denae Mary Williams for the bucket to put the score at 90-39.
The Dons had five scorers in double figures for the first time this season. Along with Dikes, Proctor and Winston, Williams finished with 14 and Khlok added 13. Not far behind was
Alexa Hardick's nine-point outing in her first time on the court this season. Her three triples represent a new career high for the junior from Dallas, Texas.
Scafidi finished with a new career mark of 11 rebounds – five off the offensive glass – in her first start. Her double-digit rebounding effort led the way in the 56-27 advantage on the boards. As a team, the Dons picked the Argonauts' pockets on 17 occasions and USF earned 34 points off of 22 total Notre Dame de Namur turnovers. USF held the advantage in every category on the stat sheet, including a 36-6 advantage in points in the paint, 28-6 in second-chance scoring and an overall 48.1 to 32.7 percent shooting edge from the floor.
The win for USF is its fifth of the season, tying the total number of victorious outcomes of one year ago. USF's 5-4 start matches its record through nine games of the 2007-08 season, a year in which the team finished 14-16 overall. The 07-08 season is the last year in which USF notched a double-digit win tally. Notre Dame de Namur, which competes in the ranks of the NCAA Division II, falls to 1-6 with the loss.
The Dons join Loyola Marymount and San Diego as the only other West Coast Conference schools to amass 90-plus points so far this year. The defensive effort that held the Argonauts to 43 points represents the second-lowest in the conference this year and the 50-point scoring gap is tops in the WCC, to date.
“It was just a really good team win,” Hardick said after the game. “I just think our overall intensity on defense really picked up. And I thought that we rebounded well and we played together well which is something else we really talked about.
“[After the loss to Northridge] we just kind of knew that we needed to get back to work in the gym and I think that we did these last few practices and we just really played together and worked really hard and bounced back for a good win.”
The Dons look to continue their winning ways at War Memorial Gym in a 2 p.m. matchup with San Jose State on Saturday.
