Box Score Jan. 13, 2005
Box Score
LOS ANGELES - Shannon Mathews and Stephanie Hawk keyed a strong second half run by Gonzaga University as the Bulldogs remained on top of the West Coast Conference standings with a 67-59 win at Loyola Marymount University. Mathews finished with a season-high 23 points while Hawk added 13 to help Gonzaga win its tenth straight game improving to 14-2 overall, 3-0 in the WCC. Loyola Marymount fell to 2-1 in the WCC and 8-8 overall.
Mathews and Hawk were key for the Bulldogs all night as they pair combined to score the Bulldogs final seven points of the first-half as Gonzaga extended a 25-23 lead with 4:23 left into a 32-26 halftime lead. Mathews hit a jumper to start the run at 4:23 and finished off the spurt with a 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining. Hawk dropped in a lay-up in between Mathews shots to put Gonzaga up.
The Lions closed the score to 32-30 as Jevay Grooms and Jacquelyn Woods hit back-to-back jumpers to open the second half. The Bulldogs immediately struck back with a Hawk bucket and free throw that pushed the Gonzaga cushion to five-points with 16:39 left. LMU would close to within three points on a Mary Turner bucket with 12:39 remaining.
Mathews would again take matters into her own hands as she started the Bulldogs big second half run with a pair of free throws. Mathews would drop in six points over the next seven minutes as Gonzaga built their lead to 57-45 with just over five minutes left in the game. Loyola Marymount would make one late run at Gonzaga but the Bulldogs responded hitting five of six free throws done the stretch, Mathews converting on 4-for-4 from the line to finish 6-for-6 from the line.
In addition to her big scoring night, Mathews also had another superb night distributing the ball finishing with five assists to move into sixth place on the West Coast Conference career assists list with 504. Mathews leaped over three players during the game passing Tami Adkins (San Francisco), Sherry Larson (Portland) and Deana Lansing (Portland) on the WCC career assists list.
The Bulldogs also received 11 points from Ashley Burke as they head to Pepperdine University for a Saturday night game against the Waves in Malibu. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports West 2 at 7 p.m. with a tape delayed broadcast on Fox Sports Northwest at 9 p.m.
Woods finished with 15 points for LMU while Rachael Ziemann led all players with 19 points for the Lions.