Feb. 12, 2009

Box Score

San Diego, CA - LMU recorded its first season sweep of San Diego since 2006, shooting 54% in the second half for a 65-59 victory at San Diego Thursday night at Jenny Craig Pavilion. The Lions (16-7, 6-3 WCC) maintain their third-place standing in the West Coast Conference, moving a game-and-a-half ahead of the Toreros (14-10, 5-5 WCC).

"We told the girls at halftime to work the clock and be patient in our offense," Head Coach Julie Wilhoit said. "We did a good job of pushing the ball and we got a lot of nice looks off the transition. From an offensive standpoint, Candice Nichols and Renahy [Young] were big but we needed it tonight from others - Melanie Ysaguirre and Alex Cowling also gave us solid efforts."

Kicking off the final six games of the year, four of which are on the road, LMU switched up its normal preparation to come away with the victory it needed. "This is just the second time in my 14 years that we had come down the night before the game," Wilhoit said. "I think it allowed us to get focused on the game."

Young led all scorers with 18 points, scoring 12 in the first half to carry much of the load in the opening 20 minutes. Nichols gave her support with her second straight double-digit outing, totalling 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting after scoring a career-high 19 points in the last meeting against San Diego. Senior Cassady Moore scored all 11 of her points in the second half after battling foul trouble in the first while Cowling had nine points and five rebounds, all in the second half.

LMU shot a season-high 51% (25-for-49), including making 14-of-26 in the second half. That helped overcome 23 turnovers and a difficult night at the line (11-for-20, 55%). The Lions made up for it by forcing 20 Torero turnovers and holding a 32-29 rebounding advantage.

Sam Child led four USD players in double figures with 16 points. Kiva Herman had 12, Dominique Conners 11, and Amber Sprague 10. San Diego shot 43.6% (24-for-55).

Neither team started well, as San Diego missed 11 of its first 16 shots and LMU missed six of first eight but the Toreros forced nine Lion turnovers in the first eight mintues to hold a 12-4 lead. The Lions soon settled down and began taking care of the ball, getting a layup from Nichols and three straight layups from Young for an 8-0 run in less than two minutes to tie the game at 12. Now that it was scoring, LMU was able to get its press working, harassing the Toreros into four turnovers in five possessions.

After starting 2-for-8, LMU made eight of its next nine, spurred by Young's 6-for-6 start, to take a 21-16 lead at 6:49 of the first half. San Diego would finish the half on an 8-3 run, however, as the teams went into the locker room tied at 24.

LMU had only three players - Young, Nichols, and Helmers - score in the first half but the rest of the team got involved coming out of the locker rooms as Moore and sophomores Melanie Ysaguirre and Aleyse Evans scored the Lions' first six points. Cowling then got into the action with two straight baskets and, following a San Diego timeout, Young spun baseline for a lay-in to give LMU its largest lead to that point, 38-29.

Not only were the Lions getting the shots they wanted, they were knocking them down. LMU made nine of its first 12 shots of the second half, with a three-pointer from Young increasing the Lion lead to 49-35. Both teams were now playing more like their normal selves but it was the Lions who were finding a way to the hoop. Nichols penetrated for three straight baskets to keep the Lion lead hovered around ten but Child answered back with three straight of her own, the last of which cut it to 58-50 with 4:04 left.

After the teams combined for just three free throw attempts in the first half, foul shots became a large factor down the stretch. LMU was shooting in the bonus with 10:02 left but Nichols, Moore, and Evans all missed from the line. Meanwhile, free throws from Conners brought USD back to 60-54 with a minute left. On the next possession, Young was bowled over but instead of a foul, jump ball was called, giving San Diego the ball. With the hot hand, Conners came straight down for a jumper in the lane to make it a four-point game with 39 seconds left. Again, it came down to free throws. This time, the Lions were solid at the stripe, scoring their last seven points at the line to put the game out of reach.

LMU closes out its quick two-game road trip at Santa Clara on Saturday at 2 p.m.

- GO LIONS -