MALIBU, Calif. – Led by a career night from senior Paige Spietz, the San Francisco women's basketball team posted a 69-58 victory over Pepperdine Thursday night at Firestone Fieldhouse.

With the victory, the Dons improve to 12-7 on the season, and 3-5 in West Coast Conference action. All three of USF's league victories are part of the current three-game winning streak that has graced the team. The Dons have now tied their total number of wins posted in the last two consecutive season.

"Since I've been at USF I've tried really hard to not get caught up in wins, losses, records, that kind of thing," head coach Jennifer Azzi noted. But what I think getting our 12th win in January shows it that continued improvement of our program that we've been working toward."

Spietz turned in a banner night of 24 points of 10-of-13 shooting from the floor, eight rebounds, a block and an assist. Her point tally represents a new career high for the senior from Brimfield, Ill.

"It's great to get a road win in the WCC," Azzi said. "Our conference is very strong, and I'm proud of the way that our team fought tonight. We got great offensive production from Paige, and she was the player that was the most open all night long and our team was able to get her the ball. I was also pleased with our rebounding effort as well."

Taylor Proctor posted 13 points – her 11th consecutive double-digit outing and 16th of the season – five rebounds, game-highs of five assists and three steals. Back after missing USF's last contest due to injury, senior Taj Winston added 13 points and three assists, and finished 9-for-12 from the free throw line.

The Dons opened the contest in the usual fashion, as Spietz tapped the tip to Zhane Dikes after vying for the opening possession with Olivia Ogwumike. USF scored the first five points in the game before Pepperdine went on a 9-2 run. The scoring spurt for the Waves was capped by a jumper from Tessa Emerson and the home team took the 13-7 lead midway through the first half.

The remainder of the first period stayed close and the Dons creeped out to the 22-21 advantage after a pair of free throws for Zhane Dikes went down. Spietz made it a seven-point lead after her layup off the pass from Dikes, but the Waves played the last minute of the period with gusto. After a second-chance bucket from Keitra Wallace, Pepperdine forced USF into its 13th turnover in the half with mere seconds on the clock, and Bria Richardson took advantage of her opportunity. The senior swished her long-range attempt at the buzzer to set the halftime score at 28-26 in favor of the Dons.

After the break, USF edged the lead to six as Proctor's long pass found its mark and Spietz layed it up and in. Minutes later, the Dons strung together seven unanswered points, and Pepperdine was forced to call a timeout. Winston picked the pocket of Ea Shoushtari after the break in the action and found Proctor for the points as the Dons grew the lead to 41-30 with 15:33 to play.

"We missed Taj. She was out for about a week, and even in practice we missed her," Spietz said of her fellow senior. "She comes back, she does her thing, she helps us out and she plays incredible defense. Her defense turned into offense tonight … We started moving the ball more, we kind of focused more on our offense and I think that really prevailed in the second half."

The Waves threatened in the closing quarter of action, and after another USF turnover led to the layup for Ogwumike, Pepperdine made it a one possession game at 53-50 with 6:17 remaining. With Pepperdine showing the pressure, the Dons were able to stretch the lead back to 10 after Proctor's pass to Winston for the points in the paint had the score at 60-50 with 2:06 on the clock.

Despite playing the foul game in the closing minutes, Pepperdine could get the margin no closer than nine before the Dons went on to crash the Waves, 69-58. With the loss, Pepperdine moves to 6-13 (1-7 WCC), and finds itself locked in a battle with local rival Loyola Marymount for the bottom spots in the league.

"Three in a row and trying to be road warriors," Spietz said with a smile. "These next few ballgames are huge opportunities. I think every game is another opportunity for us to show everyone who we are and how we play USF basketball."

After winning all three meetings against the Lions a year ago, the Dons now head to Loyola Marymount. Tipoff from the Gersten Pavilion is slated for Saturday at 2 p.m.