Women's basketball looks to pick up conference play after dropping three straight
By David Thompson
There are 40 minutes of game time in a college basketball game. The University of Portland women's basketball team (11-7, 0-3) played competitive basketball for about 30 of them in their 65-72 loss to the Saint Mary's Gaels (12-7, 3-1) at the Chiles Center last Saturday.
The Pilots lost their third straight conference game to a resilient Gael team featuring the nation's leading blocker Louella Tomlinson.
After taking a six point lead following sophomore ReZina Teclemariam's three point basket, the pilots failed to score another field goal for nine minutes and 17 seconds, a period that the Gaels outscored the Pilots 18-2 to put the score at 54-67.
The Pilots had trouble making any sort of run in the last few minutes as the Gaels made their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory and hand Portland its third straight loss.
The Pilots were led by the guard trio of Teclemariam, junior Tara Cronin and senior Laiken Dollente, who combined for 46 of the Pilots' 65 points.
The three combined to connect on 10 of 16 three pointers. The Pilots, however, could not stop Tomlinson and the Gaels.
The junior forward had a complete game swatting nine shots while adding 13 points and securing 10 boards.
After enjoying a two-point halftime lead, the Pilots shot just 27.2 percent from the field in the second half while Saint Mary's shot a much more efficient 42.9 percent on their way to victory.
The loss sent the Pilots to a 0-3 conference record following a 59-53 loss to last year's WCC tournament runner-up San Diego Toreros last Thursday in the Chiles Center.
The Pilots look to improve their record this week on the road tonight at Loyola Marymount (9-8, 2-1) and again on Saturday at conference co-leader Pepperdine (12-5, 3-0).
