SAN FRANCISCO – A spate of turnovers cost the San Francisco women's basketball team dearly as the Dons succumbed to BYU 68-63 Thursday night at War Memorial Gym.
Ball security, a constant for much of this season, was lacking as the Dons turned it over 22 times in the game, resulting in 27 points for the Cougars and nearly 40 percent of the visitor's offensive production.
"BYU scored 27 points off of our turnovers, and it was the thing that killed us tonight," head coach
Jennifer Azzi said after the close contest. "It's not that BYU played particularly great defense, it's just that we had poor decision-making. BYU's a great team, a great program, and they played very smart. But at the same time, we beat ourselves.
"On a positive note, I'm very proud of how our team fought at the end. I think we never gave up and that was a positive thing, but we have to take care of the ball."
USF, which entered the contest on a four-game winning streak, moves to 13-8 (4-6 WCC) on the season, while the Cougars escape the Hilltop with a mark of 16-5 (8-2 WCC).
Despite the loss for the Dons, the night was full of milestone marks as senior
Taj Winston became the 19th woman in school history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark. Minutes after the Long Beach, Calif., native etched her name in the USF annals, junior
Taylor Proctor joined the party and notched her 1,000th point in her 78th game for the Green and Gold.
"It's kind of bittersweet because of course I'm extremely proud of Taj and Taylor, but I think even for them it's hard to get something like that – an individual accomplishment – the night you lose a game," Azzi said. "But I'm very proud of both of them. I love coaching Taj and I love coaching Taylor, and for any basketball player it's a big milestone.
"But at the same time, I've never, even when I played, been caught up in individual statistics. It's very much about team, and I think both of Taylor and Taj are very much about team."
Interestingly enough, BYU senior Morgan Bailey also reached the 1,000 point milestone in the first half of action, the 26th Cougar to do so.
Along with notable numbers, there was a furious fight to the finish on the hardwood. The Cougars entered halftime with a five-point advantage and grew that lead in the opening minutes of the second. Back-to-back-to-back scoring opportunities, intermingled with USF turnovers, allowed BYU to grow the lead to 17 points after Makenzi Morrison drained a 3-pointer with 8:58 to play.
The Dons began to whittle away at the advantage, and a steal by Proctor with the dish to Winston notched point No. 1,000 for the Long Beach, Calif., native with 4:26 on the clock. With the margin at 10 points with 3:21 remaining, Proctor's move to the inside for the layup put the score at 59-51 in favor of BYU. After an empty possession for the Cougars despite multiple tries at the basket, Proctor sunk a 3-pointer with 1:28 left to play, giving the forward from Colorado Springs, Colo., her 1,000th point.
Zhane Dikes sliced into BYU's advantage even more after converting the layup with 41.0 ticks remaining. After Dikes tied up the Cougars' Lexi Eaton on the sidelines, a basket for Winston pulled the Dons within one as BYU clung to a 59-58 lead.
USF was forced to foul, but the Dons continued to answer back with baskets. After Winston drained her shot from beyond the arc with 4.0 seconds to play, the score was 64-63 in favor of the Cougars. However, the visiting team went on to make each of its last four attempts from the free throw line to escape with the 68-63 win.
Through the season's two meetings, both games have been decided by a total of eight points. Next up, USF looks to avenge a one-point loss at San Diego on New Year's Day. The Dons and the Toreros tip Saturday at 2 p.m.
"San Diego is another very good team," Azzi noted. "We played them extremely close down there, but we've got to fix some things from this game going into Saturday. But our team – they fight, they rally. You saw it at the end of the game. They're very much in it, but we have to play smart."
