Pacific Women's Hoops Ties Program Mark With 20th Win

The Pacific women's basketball team opened its contest with a 15-0 run against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, February 21 en route to a 31-point triumph over the Tritons. The Tigers took the Big West Conference matchup 81-50 in front of the 470 fans in the Alex G. Spanos Center.

The victory improves Pacific to 20-6 (10-4 BWC), while the loss drops Cal State Fullerton to 7-18 (3-10 BWC).

The 20th victory is only the third time in school history the women's basketball team has accomplished the feat. They will go for a school record 21st victory on Saturday against UC Riverside.

Pacific held Cal State Fullerton scoreless until the 12:29 mark in the first half and never surrendered its double-digit lead the entire contest.

Leading Pacific was Gina Johnson with 16 points, closely followed by 15 from Erica McKenzie and a career-high 15 from Shanice Butler off the bench. Johnson finished the contest shooting 6-8, while McKenzie shot 50 percent from the field, including three triples. Butler controlled the paint with six field goals and went 3-3 from the charity stripe.

Senior Kendall Rodriguez led the Tigers with six rebounds and also added 11 points.  Kendall Kenyon and Ashley Wakefield each added eight points. Also, recording points for the Tigers was Claire Conricode with four and Ashley Smith and Kristina Johsnon each with two.

As a team, the Tigers shot 55 percent from the field and 33 percent from behind the arc. In the paint, Pacific outscored their opponent 46-28.

The Tigers defense swarmed the Tritons holding them to 40 percent shooting.

The Tigers will go for a school record 21st win on Saturday, February 23 against UC Riverside at 4 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.