SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Playing in their first back-to-back of the season, the USF Dons women's basketball team (5-2) showed very little signs of rust as they took control of Saturday's game early on their way to a 74-50 victory over the Long Beach State 49ers (2-3) at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. The Dons wrapped up their 2022 USF Thanksgiving Classic by picking up a couple of wins as the Dons welcomed South Carolina State, Tulsa and Long Beach State to the Hilltop this weekend to compete.
Kennedy Dickie led the way for the Dons by recording her third double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while
Ioanna Krimili led all scorers with 18 points on Saturday afternoon. Providing another strong spark off the bench,
Debora dos Santos put in 17 points and corralled five rebounds against the 49ers on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- The Dons began Saturday afternoon's game on the offensive attack as USF sprinted out to a 12-5 run thanks to three Krimili triples and a beyond the arc basket from Kia Vaalavirta. USF's quick offensive burst to start the game forced Long Beach State out of their patented zone defense early in the game and the Dons were able to handle their own on the defensive end of the floor to lead 22-13 at the end of the first quarter.
- USF worked to build their double digit advantage throughout the second quarter, as Krimili knocked down an early triple and Jasmine Gayles came off the bench to score a quick bucket as the Dons held a 30-15 lead midway through the quarter. As the Beach began to get more stops on the defensive end against the Dons, USF's defense didn't relent at the defensive end of the floor holding Long Beach State to 31% shooting in the first half as well as forcing eight turnovers to hold a 37-24 lead heading into halftime.
- Coming out of the break, the Dons were able to continue putting pressure on the Beach as USF used a couple of early buckets from Krimili and Dickie to pad their lead to 42-28 and forced a quick timeout from Long Beach State. Taking complete control of the game, the Dons were able to push their lead up to 20 points late in the quarter thanks to great free throw shooting from Krimili, Vaalavirta and dos Santos as USF held a 55-34 lead heading into the final quarter.
- McDowell-White took control for the Dons offensively after dishing assists for the majority of the game as she knocked down back-to-back three point shots to put USF up 65-34 with 6:34 remaining in the game. Coming off the bench and providing an offensive spark as well was Loren Christie, who was able to score six points in the final quarter as the Dons earned their fifth win of the season by a 74-50 final score.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
- Dickie notched yet another double-double for USF on Saturday afternoon as she scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field with 10 rebounds to go along with an assist and a steal as well for USF.
- Krimili put together another strong scoring night for the Dons as she scored a game-high 18 points on 4-for-9 shooting from three point range while also dishing out six assists and grabbing five rebounds.
- dos Santos was outstanding all weekend in the Classic and turned in another tremendous performance against Long Beach State scoring 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field with five rebounds and three steals for the Dons.
- McDowell-White was able to do it all for USF on Saturday as she scored eight points while dishing out five assists and corralling five boards while finishing a game-high +29 to help the Dons pick up the victory over Long Beach State.
POST GAME WITH THE DONS:
UP NEXT:
The Dons will now head south for their first road game of the season, as they will take on the CSUN Matadors on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7:00 p.m. from Premier America Credit Union Arena. Live statistics and watch links can be found through the team's
schedule page.
TICKETS AND MERCHANDISE:
Single-game tickets for West Coast Conference basketball games are currently on sale at
www.usfdons.com/tickets.
Want to dress like the Dons? Rep USF today by visiting the all-new USF Dons online store at
www.usfdons.com/shop.
FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the USF women's basketball program, follow the Dons @USFDonsWBB on Twitter, @USFDonsWBB on Instagram and @USFDonsWBB on Facebook.
SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our primary sponsor - Provident Credit Union - for their continued support of USF Athletics. Interested in sponsoring the Dons? Please contact Frank Allocco, the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, at fallocco@usfca.edu or at (415) 422-4561.
