SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco women's basketball team played it's best second half since the season opener and its best fourth quarter of the year on Saturday, but UC Davis barely survived a USF comeback and a last-minute shot by the Dons to come away with a 70-68 non-conference victory at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Cierra Hall finally made a free throw for UC Davis (6-5) with 1.9 seconds left, snapping a streak of three straight missed by the Aggies in the final 16 seconds. Shannon Powell's baseball-throw buzzer-beater attempt from 3/4 court fell just short and to the left, allowing UC Davis to escape with the narrow two-point victory. All this came after the Dons scored 46 points after halftime – their second most since Nov. 9 versus San Jose State – and 28 in the fourth quarter – their most all season.
   
• San Francisco (3-6) entered the fourth quarter trailing the Aggies by seven. It would trail by as much as nine, along with five other occasions of falling behind by seven or eight points. But the Dons would not quit.
   
• It was Nia Alexander who put the Dons on her back and carried the team through the first part of the final period. She got hot to start the frame, scoring 14 of her 16 game points over a four-minute stretch at the start of the fourth, going 4 for 4 from the floor with a 3-pointer and a 5-for-6 showing at the free-throw line. That helped cut the deficit to just four points with 4:36 to play.
   
• But UC Davis pushed its lead back to eight after Alexander cooled off. Back came the Dons, though. The Aggies' Kourtney Eaton hit the team's 11th 3-pointer of the game with 1:25 left to give them a seven-point, 69-62 lead, but the Dons charged back with six consecutive free throws from Abby Rathbun over the next 80 seconds.
   
• A slow opening quarter proved to be the difference for the Dons in the end. San Francisco scored six points in the first 10 minutes while UC Davis scored 12. USF shot 30 percent (3 for 10) while turning the ball over five times and getting outrebounded 11-8.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 14: San Francisco limited the nation's third-leading scorer to just 14 points Saturday. UC Davis' Morgan Bertsch entered the game averaging 24.4 points per game. Her 244 total points on the year were second in the NCAA, just two behind the national leader.
• 14 for 20: USF went 14 for 20 from the free-throw line, including 12 for 14 in the second half. San Francisco missed its first four free throws of the game, then went 14 for 16 the rest of the way.
• 44.0: UC Davis shot 44.0 percent from 3-point range, making 11 treys on 25 tries. USF faced the No. 2 and 3 teams in the country for 3-pointers made per game in its previous two contests and held those teams to a combined 7 for 60 (11.7 percent) from deep.

COMING UP

• San Francisco travels to Deland, Fla., next week to take part in the 31st annual Hatter Classic hosted by Stetson University. There, the Dons will face North Dakota State (Wednesday) and North Dakota (Friday).