Box Score
LOS ANGELES – Bitten by the shooting bug, the Dons women's basketball team dropped a 65-50 decision to Loyola Marymount after scoring on less than 30 percent of its 61 attempts from the field Thursday night at Gersten Pavilion.
The Dons scored first, as
Zhané Dikes put in the layup just over a minute into the contest. She went on to score the next nine points for USF including the freshman's first career 3-pointer to give USF a 9-8 lead with 13:14 to play in the first. The Dons last lead of the night was lost was Deanna Johnson's jumper for the Lions went in with 12:31 remaining in the period. LMU went on an 11-4 run with back-to-back-to-back triples to grow the Lions lead to double-digits before a layup by
Mel Khlok stalled the drive.
Loyola Marymount senior and all-time leading scorer and rebounder Alex Cowling sank a 3-pointer as time expired in the first half to give the Lions a 33-24 halftime lead. Cowling didn't get the starting nod for the first time of the season and, in fact, hasn't come off the bench since Nov. 16, 2009. But her presence out of the starting lineup only meant that the LMU bench was able to go for 19 first-half points, and 13 from Cowling. All told, LMU got 37 points from the bench as Cowling finished with 19 points and nine rebounds while Chelsea Barnes chipped in 11 points for the Lions.
USF's team shooting woes never let up, as the Dons were an icy 1-of-20 from long range on the night, with the first-half 3-pointer by Dikes proving to be the only shot from beyond the arc to fall for the visitors.
Overall, USF shot 29.5 percent from the field, with the lone offensive bright spot from a career-high 20 points off 8-of-18 shooting for Dikes. Sophomore
Alicia Scafidi finished as the game's leading rebounder, crashing the glass 13 times, and coming up with six offensive rebounds for the Dons. Khlok contributed 11 points and three assists in the game to finish as USF's only other double-digit scorer.
With the loss, USF and LMU find themselves with equal overall records of 8-10, but the Lions move to 2-3 in West Coast Conference action while the Dons fall to 1-4 in league play.
Its fourth road game in the month of January, the Dons travel to Santa Clara to take on the Broncos on Saturday at 7 p.m.
