Feb. 15, 2003

(San Francisco) - Teams who miss their first 19 field goals and trail by 18-1 with 11:00 left in the first half are not supposed to win. Someone must have reminded USF it's not important how you start, but how you finish and the Lady Dons finished strong, to seize an improbable 59-57 victory against Gonzaga Saturday in West Coast Conference action at War Memorial Gym. With the victory, USF (9-15, 4-6 WCC) picks up their first home win since Nov. 29, while Gonzaga (15-11, 6-5 WCC) misses on the opportunity to collect their first ever Bay Area WCC sweep.

After trailing 18-1, USF went to work and went on a 21-15 run to close to within 11, 33-22 after finally making their first field goal at the 11:00 mark. Gonzaga finished the first half converting on .500 (14-28), while USF made eight of their last 10 from the floor in the half, finishing at .276 (8-29).

In the second half, Gonzaga pushed the lead to 16, 41-25 with 14:13 left, but San Francisco battled back and cut the lead to two, 41-39 on a driving lay-up by freshman guard Charmaine Ramos with 9:35 left. USF took their first lead of the game at 8:07 on another Ramos lay-up and USF did not surrender the lead the rest of the way.

Junior center Mary Jane Krueger enjoyed another monster game for the Lady Dons pumping in a team-high 15 points to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds for her third straight double-double performance. Freshman guard Joy Hollingsworth added 14 points and three steals for USF, while junior guard Merisa Leatherman added nine points. Ramos finished with six big points and a pair of assists.

Senior guard Triana Allen scored a game-high 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Raenna Jewell scored 14 points and added nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Shannon Mathews scored nine points and dished out nine assists, eight coming in the first half.

USF returns to action when they travel to Santa Clara Thursday for a contest against the Broncos. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 PM at the Leavey Center.