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SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco women's basketball team handed San Diego a 78-74 loss at War Memorial Gym Thursday night, snapping a 13-game losing streak against the Toreros.
Despite individual career highs by multiple players, the name of the game for the Dons was a total team effort, parlaying individual strengths into team assets.
"Everybody went with their strengths, and if each person brings their best each night, we're going to do well and we're going to win games," head coach
Jennifer Azzi said after the victory. "I thought it was a very unselfish evening. Whatever they gave us is what we took, and we used that to our advantage."
Sophomore
Zhané Dikes scored a career-high 28 points and got to the line 22 times in the contest.
Paige Spietz also posted career-best scoring figures, coming away with 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Taj Winston utilized her defensive prowess to swat a season-best four shots to go along with three steals. She also added 11 points on the offensive side of the ball.
Taylor Proctor, held to one point in the first half, turned it on in the second to finish with 12 points for the game to round out the double-digit scorers.
The Dons improve to 9-14 on the season, and stand at 4-8 in the West Coast Conference after the team win. San Diego, entering the game in third in the league standings, drop to 18-5 (7-5 WCC) and ride a three-game losing streak.
USF opened the contest with the first points of the game at the free throw line, perhaps a foreshadowing of what was to come. The Dons went to the line a season-high 49 times, hitting 36 of its attempts.
"The coaches said we could live at the free throw line and I think we really did execute that," Dikes said. "I'm just happy I was able to get to the line because I know that helps get my team a rest and some easy points for us."
"We definitely tried to get to the free throw line because in their last two losses that's what other teams have done," Azzi added. "You go with what works."
After an Amy Kame jumper put the Toreros ahead 15-8 with 11:51 to play in the first half, USF went to work to erase the deficit in short order. Started by a pair of free throws by Spietz, USF rolled off the next 11 points in the contest to nab the 19-15 lead with 8:33 remaining in the period. In that three-minute span, the Dons forced San Diego into five turnovers as Spietz scored nine of her 17 points.
The remainder of the half was a back-and-forth battle. San Diego's Sophie Ederaine tied the contest at 24 apiece before Winston and Kame exchanged 3-pointers to knot the game for the seventh time with the score at 27-all. After Dikes scored the final four points of the half, USF found itself up 38-32 at the break, its first time to hold a halftime lead since at home all season long.
San Diego roared back in the opening minutes of the second period to edge out to the 49-48 lead with 11:21 to play in the game. After Kame tied the score at 50-50,
Rachel Howard's 3-pointer off the assist from Proctor with 9:22 to go gave the Dons the lead for good and sparked a 13-0 run. A successful trip to the stripe for Dikes gave USF its largest advantage of the game at 63-50 with 7:03 on the clock.
"Once we had that run I knew the clock was our friend, and we just had to settle down and work the ball as a team," Dikes said. "I was feeling very excited but just also poised and calm."
San Diego started to chip away at USF's lead late, as Kame, the senior leader for the Toreros, was unwilling to succumb without a fight. Finishing with 28 points in the contest, Kame scored 14 of San Diego's final 17 points in the game. With 46.7 seconds to play, Kame swished two free throws to make it a two-possession game as the strategy of sending the Dons to the line played out over the final minute. After Dikes hit one-of-two from the stripe with 39.8 seconds to play, San Diego's Cori Woodward hit her only basket of the night - a 3-pointer - to put the score at 73-69 in favor of USF.
The Toreros edged even closer after Kame's layup with 13.3 to play pulled San Diego within one slim point. But Proctor stepped to the line to hit 3-of-4 free throw attempts in the closing seconds to keep the Toreros at bay.
The Dons outshot San Diego 43.2 to 35.9 percent from the field. The Toreros posted a 49-30 advantage on the glass, with a lopsided 31-13 second half rebounding edge going in favor of the visitors. The Dons finished with a season-high seven blocks as a team and forced San Diego into 16 turnovers that led to 23 points.
The Dons had not tasted victory against the Toreros since Jan. 12, 2008, a span of 13 games. This marks just the second home win of the season for USF.
"It's really big win for us because they're doing really well this year and they're one of the top teams in the conference," Winston said of San Diego. "It's really good for us to get that confidence and let us know we can play with anybody.
"We have good post players and they have good post players, but we're more mobile and we're more versatile," she said looking ahead to the Cougars. "We have an advantage against them, and we've just got to use it."
Continuing its three-game homestand, the Dons play host to BYU Saturday at 2 p.m.
