Mitchell Lobetos
Staff Writer
It was an abysmal shooting night for the Dons last Saturday when they fell 59-72 to WCC rival St. Mary’s (23-6, 14-4 WCC) in Moraga, CA. Before the loss though, San Francisco was able to down the University of the Pacific Tigers (13-16, 6-12 WCC) by a final score of 81-71 during their final home game of the season last Thursday. Guard Zhane Dikes and forward Taylor Proctor bid farewell to War Memorial and their home crowd and received an ovation one last time.
Saturday’s game was a forgettable one. In the second half shots just weren’t falling, especially from beyond the arc and the rebounding tenacity just wasn’t there. San Francisco shot an abysmal 36.8%, 31.0% in the second half and were outrebounded 28-42. Proctor worked hard to a 20-point, 10-rebound night. After the first quarter USF was in command with a 13-point lead. As the second quarter went on St. Mary’s was able to chip away at the lead and with 1:15 remaining in the first half the Gaels tied the score at 33. The Gaels split free throws in the final in the final minute and that was good enough to take a 34-33 lead into half. In the third quarter St. Mary’s was able to sustain their lead and push it to five by the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter the Dons were able to close the gap to two points on two different occasions, 53-55 and 55-57, but the Gaels finished the game on a 15-4 run to bring the score to 59-72 in favor of St. Mary’s. Dikes finished with 13 points and eight rebounds and junior forward Claudine Price finished with 13 points and four rebounds.
During Thursday’s senior night the Dons were really on their game shooting an effective 45.6%, only 29.4% from three-point range, and outrebounding the Tigers 45-36. A back-and-forth first quarter had four lead-changes and two ties. After UoP was able to push their lead to five, 26-21, going into the second quarter. The second quarter was all Dikes, she shot 6-of-7 for 12 points and helped lift USF to a 4-point lead, 41-37 going into the break. Price and Proctor rolled in the third quarter to push their 4-point lead at half all the way to 11, 62-51. In the fourth quarter, solid free throw shooting helped sustain the lead the rest of the game until the final buzzer with a scoreline of 81-71. The seniors had quality games; Dikes poured in 22 points and four rebounds and Proctor had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Price was a rebound short of her own double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Rachel Howard hit three, three-pointers en route to 15 points and six rebounds.
San Francisco is headed to Las Vegas for the WCC tournament as the No. 6 seed and is slated to tip-off against No. 3 seed University of San Diego. The teams will play Thursday, March 3 at 6pm.
Photo courtesy of Dons Athletics
