Story Courtesy Wofford sports information
Pacific 70, Wofford 56
Stockton, CA - After traveling across the country, the Wofford women's basketball team opened its West Coast swing with a 70-56 loss at the University of the Pacific Sunday afternoon. The game was the first in the Golden State for the Terriers and the first contest against a school from the Big West Conference.
The host Tigers took advantage of a number of first half turnovers to open up a close game just 10 minutes into the contest. A layup by junior Jenny Weurding provided Wofford its last lead of the game, 13-12, with 11:05 to play in the opening session. It capped off four-straight points by the center.
Pacific then retook the lead at 14-13 on a pair of free throws from Wyvonne Jones with 10:38 remaining and never looked back. The hosts closed the half with a 22-6 run to take a 36-19 lead into the intermission. Freshman Summer Nichols tallied four of the six Terrier points down the stretch.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by junior Mary Jo Yee and a layup from sophomore Kelsi Koenig helped Wofford (4-4) open the second half with a 7-2 surge to close the margin to 11, 38-27, at the 16:51 mark.
A 10-2 run by Pacific (2-7) countered the Terrier offensive threats and pushed its lead back to 19, 48-29, with 13:23 to play. Following a pair of free throw conversions from Tyler Moran, the Tigers held their largest lead of the game at 20 points, 54-34, with 8:55 to go.
Wofford kept fighting and battled back within 11 again, 61-50, when Koenig connected on a couple of charity stripe tosses with 2:08 remaining. The Tigers would score their final nine points from the foul line.
Yee led the Terriers with 13 points, all in the second half, on the strength of three treys. Koenig and Nichols added 11 apiece, while Weurding chipped in with 10 to give Wofford four players in double-figure scoring.
Koenig matched senior Nakia Mister with a team-high six rebounds.
Kelsey Lavender led all players with 17 points followed by 12 from Jerise Freeman. Also contributing double-digit scoring totals for Pacific were Tina Saneviri and Moran with 11 apiece. Karen Dawkins collected a game-high nine caroms, including eight defensively.