A flurry of three-pointers midway through the second half allowed the Seattle University women’s basketball team to take a double-digit lead, and UC Davis could not complete a comeback as SeattleU earned a 65-59 victory over the Aggies Tuesday evening at The Pavilion.
Down 35-32, the run of long distance shots started when Elle Kerfoot (, B.C.) hit a three-pointer with 13:17 remaining to tie the game. After UC Davis made two baskets to go ahead by four points, Cassidy Murillo (, ) cut the lead to one with a three-pointer, and Chelsie Morrison () followed with three straight three-pointers to give SeattleU a 47-39 advantage with 8:09 left in the second half.
Another three-pointer by Murillo and single free throws from Mercedes Alexander (, ) and Breanna Salley () concluded a 17-0 SeattleU run that gave the visitors a 52-39 lead with 6:32 remaining in regulation. The Aggies came within six points late in the game, but SeattleU punctuated its best free throw shooting day of the year by hitting 9-of-10 free throws in the final three minutes to ice the game.
Morrison led with 16 points, plus she earned seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals in the game. Salley notched a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Kerfoot and Murillo each hit three three-pointers and finished with 13 points and three rebounds, with Murillo also dishing out six assists in the victory.
UC Davis (4-7) took an early 8-2 lead, but back-to-back three-pointers by Morrison and Kerfoot allowed Seattle University to score eight unanswered points and take a 10-8 lead. Three free throws from Alexander and two baskets by Salley extended SeattleU’s lead to 17-12, but UC Davis fought back to come within one at halftime (27-26).
Lauren Juric paced UC Davis with 14 points and seven rebounds, Hana Asano finished with 13 points, three rebounds, four assists, and two steals, and Kasey Riecks earned 12 points, four rebounds, two steals, and two blocked shots. While hit 39.3 percent of its three-point shots (11-of-28), the Aggies hit 25 percent (7-of-28) of their attempts from long distance. In addition, SeattleU hit 14-of-18 shots (77.8%) from the free throw line, but UC Davis only earned five free throw attempts, hitting four of them.
This was the third victory for the women’s basketball team over a Division I opponent in this first year of reclassification. SeattleU has now defeated opponents on the road from the Western Athletic Conference ( ), the West Coast Conference (), and the Big West Conference (UC Davis).
(6-6) heads home to start 2009 with a contest against Saturday, Jan. 3, beginning at 5 p.m. at the . The team will not have another home game for three weeks, traveling back to before making trips to and in the 21 days between home games.