Oct. 31, 2008
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Senior center Amber Sprague's game-high 23 points and 13 rebounds paced the University of San Diego women's basketball team to a 65-56 exhibition win over visiting Point Loma Nazarene University Friday evening at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Sprague scored her 23 points on an impressive 8-for-10 shooting from the floor, while also going 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. Senior forward Kiva Herman was the second Torero in double figures as she scored 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting and Sam Child added in eight points. As a team, USD shot 40 percent from the field and out rebounded Point Loma 36-27.
The Sea Lions had three players in double figures led by Liah Ector's 14 points and eight rebounds. Amanda Franz scored 10 points and the final PLNU player in double figures was Colleen Planeta, who had 11 points. As a team, the Sea Lions shot 46 percent from the field.
This was a game of two halves, as in the first half Point Loma stunned the Toreros by taking control of the tempo and taking advantage of several USD miscues. With the score knotted at 8-8, PLNU went on an 8-2 run to take a 15-10 lead with 11:53 remaining in the half. The Sea Lions would go on to build their lead up to as many as seven at 19-12 on a pair of Ector free throws with 9:35 remaining in the half.
A pair of Child free throws then sparked a 9-3 USD run that was capped on a Sprague lay-up to pull San Diego to within one at 22-21 with 2:02 remaining in the half. The Sea Lions then closed the frame on a 4-2 run to take a 26-23 lead into the break.
In the second half, it was a different story as USD shot 52 percent from the floor and came out firing on all cylinders. USD opened the frame with an 8-4 run that was ignited on a Sprague lay-up and book ended on a Sprague lay-up to give USD its first lead in 20 minutes at 31-30 with 15:24 to go.
|
|
 |
The two teams then sea sawed back and forth a bit over the next nine minutes. Then with the score knotted at 50-50, a Child three-pointer sparked an 11-2 San Diego run that was capped on a Morgan Woodrow jumper to give USD a 61-52 advantage with 2:47 left. The Toreros never looked back as they held onto that nine-point advantage for the remainder of the game.
San Diego will open its regular season in two weeks on Nov. 14, as they welcome UC San Diego to the Jenny Craig Pavilion for a 7 p.m. tip-off to begin the 2008-09 season.
