USD Weekly Update | 3-13-18

Women’s Tennis

USD Women’s tennis faced off against St. Mary’s and was defeated 4-2 in their second conference game. The Toreros took the lead after winning the doubles point but the Gales responded by winning the first singles points to take 3-1 lead. Gemma Garcia won her singles match to pull the Toreros back to 3-2 but St. Mary’s won the next singles match to seal the victory. The Toreros  are now 4-6 overall and will take a break from conference opponents as they face Colorado State on Wednesday and Texas State on Thursday.

Softball

USD softball was in Arizona this past week for the Wildcat invitational where the Toreros posted an overall record of 3-2. The invitational got off to a rough start for USD as they dropped their first two games, a 10-2 lost vs #9 Arizona and a 6-5 extra innings loss vs South Dakota. However the Toreros were able to bounce back on Saturday and pick up two wins, vs #24 USC Upstate and a revenge win vs South Dakota.

In the first game, USD was out-hit 10-2 but made the most out of their hits and played phenomenal defense on the way to a 3-2 win. In the second game, the Toreros bounced back from their Friday night loss to defeat South Dakota behind a complete game from starting pitcher Hannah Boos. This effort earned Boos WCC pitcher of the week honors.

In the final game of the invitational, the Toreros finished strong with a 7-4 win over Wisconsin. USD now finds themselves with a 14-13 record and will look to carry their winning streak Wednesday when they host Farfield.

Baseball

USD Baseball was in Houston over the weekend for a three game series with the Cougars and came away with a 1-2 record. On Friday night, the Toreros were defeated 4-3 in extra innings. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, USD found themselves tied 3-3 in the top of the 8th with the bases loaded and with a chance to take the lead but grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning. The Toreros would go on to lose on a walk off homer in the 12th.

Things did not get any better for the Toreros on Saturday as they found themselves on the short end of a 5-2 loss. USD was able to bounce back on Sunday and avoid the sweep however. Behind the strong pitching of Nick Sprengel, who gave up just one hit in six innings of work, the Toreros defeated the Cougars 7-4. The Toreros offense was also tremendous as they picked up 16 hits, six of which were doubles. The Toreros return to Fowler Park tonight for a showdown with crosstown rivals #25 San Diego State.

Women’s Basketball

The USD Women’s Basketball team came up just short in their quest to win the WCC Tournament and get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a 79-71 loss vs Gonzaga. The Toreros started off hot and jumped out to a 25-20 lead but cooled off eventually, going into the the break trailing by 5. USD started the third quarter off ice cold going 1-12 from the field and went four and a half minutes without scoring midway through the quarter.

The Toreros would end the 3rd down 11 and saw that deficit grow to 16 midway through the 4th but the Toreros would not go quietly as they trimmed the Gonzaga lead to single digits with 2:43 remaining. However, Gonzaga hit their free throws down the stretch and held off the Toreros to win the WCC Tournament Championship. In her final collegiate game, Maya Hood scored 23 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Hood was named to the all tournament team after the game. The Toreros finished up their season at 17-15.

Men’s Basketball

USD Men’s Basketball opened up the first round of the CollegeInsiders.com Postseason Tournament with a home win over the Hartford Hawks of the American East Conference. The 88-72 victory was one of the best performances of the year for the Toreros and was the first victory of acting head coach Sam Scholl. Cameron Neubauer led the Toreros with 16 points followed by Tyler Williams (15) and Isaiah Wright (14). Wright also had 11 assists.

USD shot 58.2% from the field (32-55) and 46% (12-26) from the three point line. The Toreros led by seven at half and by 16 in the second half but the Hawks rallied to cut the Toreros lead to 57-53 with 11:14 to play. However, USD responded with a 20-5 run to put the game away and advance in the CIT. The Toreros will face Portland State this Saturday at 7pm in the second round.