John Holton
Staff Writer

The Dons won both their games this past week by a combined margin of 33 points. On Thursday USF faced off against Pepperdine at home and securing a comfortable victory. Two days later the Dons were back at home for a match against LMU that they came out on top of, 81-72.

Although the game against LMU ended with less than a 10 point difference between the two teams, it was a fairly easy win for the Dons. USF jumped out to a quick 17-3 lead thanks to three pointers by Rachel Howard, Zhane Dikes, and Anna Seilund. From that point forward in the first half LMU would not come within more than 13 points of the Dons, and at one point USF even managed to push the lead to 27. When the clock hit zero halfway through the game the Dons were up 47-28.

The biggest factor for both teams in the first half was field goal percentage. The Dons outshot the Lions in all three categories by an extremely wide margin. They were also outrebounded and had fewer assists and more turnovers.

The second half proved to be a much different story however as the Lions managed to shoot much better from everywhere except the free throw line. The Dons, on the other hand, struggled in this area with a decreased percentage in every category including an abysmal 16.7% from beyond the arc. LMU also had more assists in the second half and fewer turnovers.

The Dons second half struggles nearly let the Lions back into the game but in the end their deficit going into halftime was just too much to overcome. The score stayed fairly lopsided until about the five minute mark when the Lions began to make a push for the lead. With just over a minute left in the game, LMU had closed in to within 10 points when Lion Andee Velasco hit a three pointer to bring his team just seven points short of a tie. Luckily for the Dons this was the closest the Lions would get to their lead as they managed to hold out and finish nine points ahead thanks to free throws rom Dikes, Seilund, and Taylor Proctor bringing the final score to 81-72 Dons.

Proctor was the leading scorer for USF with 25 points as well as nine rebounds and two blocks. Two Dons tied for second in scoring with 10 points, Seilund who also tacked on four assists, and Dikes who managed to grab 15 rebounds.

Just two days previous the Dons grabbed a blowout win against Pepperdine 99-75. These two wins bring the Dons overall record to 17-10 and their WCC tally to 8-8. This puts them at sixth in the WCC rankings with two regular season games left to play. Their next game will be at home on the 25th against Pacific at 7pm before they head to Moraga two days later to face off against Saint Mary’s at 1pm.

Photo courtesy of Dons Athletics