{"id":507627,"date":"2026-01-11T03:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/507627\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T03:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:32:13","slug":"second-half-comeback-pushes-toreros-past-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/507627\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Half Comeback Pushes Toreros Past Waves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>                    &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\tStory Links&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n   &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Gonzaga_Bulldogs_logo.svg.png\" alt=\"Gonzaga \"\/><\/p>\n<p>                Next Game:<\/p>\n<p>at Gonzaga <\/p>\n<p>1\/17\/2026 | 2 PM<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        ESPN +  &#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                    Jan. 17 (Sat) \/ 2 PM&#13;\n                <\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-opponent-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Gonzaga_Bulldogs_logo.svg.png\" alt=\"Gonzaga \"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        at\u00a0Gonzaga &#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<p>                    <a class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-details-history\" href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/opponent-history\/gonzaga\/50\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">History <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                             &#13;<\/p>\n<p><b>SAN DIEGO\u00a0\u2013<\/b>\u00a0Putting together a spirited effort after trailing for the majority of the game, the San Diego women&#8217;s basketball team (7-12, 1-5 WCC) picked up their first victory of conference action as they took down Pepperdine (10-8, 1-4 WCC) by a 54-51 final score on Saturday afternoon in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/hallie-rhodes\/12687\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"12687\" target=\"_blank\">Hallie Rhodes<\/a> had a phenomenal afternoon for the Toreros as she scored a team-high 16 points and secured six rebounds\u00a0against the Waves. Freshman guard <a href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/olivia-owens\/12695\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"12695\" target=\"_blank\">Olivia Owens<\/a> was active throughout Saturday&#8217;s game as well as she pulled down a career-best 11 rebounds and forced five steals to help USD break their losing skid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>HOW IT HAPPENED<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Getting the scoring started back on their home court, <a href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/dresha-moore\/12672\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"12672\" target=\"_blank\">Dresha Moore<\/a> made a great move to the basket and scored a driving layup to put USD ahead by a pair early in the game.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>A few minutes later, H. Rhodes got her big day started by getting downhill and scoring off of the glass to knot the game at four.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>With just over a minute left in the opening quarter, <a href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/eva-ruse\/12675\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"12675\" target=\"_blank\">Eva Ruse<\/a> made a great move to the basket as <a href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/kylie-ray\/12692\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"12692\" target=\"_blank\">Kylie Ray<\/a> found her for an easy lay in as the Toreros trailed 12-6 after the first 10 minutes of play.<\/li>\n<li>To start the second quarter, the Toreros came out aggressive as Ray earned a trip to the charity stripe and knocked down a pair of free throws to get San Diego back within four.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Their next trip down the court, Ray found <a href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/helen-holley\/12693\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"12693\" target=\"_blank\">Helen Holley<\/a> wide open for a corner three that made the score 14-11 Waves.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In the final minutes of the first half, Owens grabbed a huge offensive rebound and scored a put back as the Toreros trailed by just one point.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/roster\/malia-tharpe\/12686\" rel=\"smarttag noopener\" rev=\"12686\" target=\"_blank\">Malia Tharpe<\/a> would score USD&#8217;s final points of the first half as she made a nice move in the paint for a layup as San Diego trailed 27-23 heading into the locker room.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Pepperdine was able to build their lead up to eight in the early minutes of the second half before Ray scored on a floater to make the score 31-25 early in the third quarter.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Later in the period, H. Rhodes maintained her aggression as she made a pull up jumper after Owens forced a steal as the Toreros stayed within striking distance down seven points.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Reaching double figures in scoring just before the quarter ended, H. Rhodes made a nice mid-range jumper in the paint as USD had work to do trailing 44-36 with just one quarter remaining.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Putting immediate pressure on the Waves, Tharpe put home a layup with a nice move using her left hand to get San Diego back within six points.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Taking their first lead of the second half just a few minutes later, Owens grabbed the rebound and started a fast break before finding H. Rhodes open for a corner three which she nailed as USD led 48-47.<\/li>\n<li>With just over two minutes of game time remaining, Owens came up with her fourth steal of the game and took the ball coast-to-coast for an easy lay in as the Toreros led 52-49.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>After a few more timely defensive stops and some free throws from Tharpe, USD earned their first victory of conference play as they bested Pepperdine by a 54-51 final score on Saturday afternoon.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>TORERO TIDBITS<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>H. Rhodes had a productive and efficient afternoon for the Toreros as she posted 16 points on 7-of-12 from the field, grabbed six rebounds, forced a steal and blocked a shot against Pepperdine.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Owens set new career-highs with her 11 rebounds and five steals in her 35 minutes of action as she also contributed six points and a pair of assists.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Ray reached double figures in scoring once again the Toreros as she put in 14 points, secured seven boards and distributed a trio of assists in the victory on Saturday at home.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Tharpe scored some crucial points off the San Diego bench with eight points in her 18 minutes as she finished +12 for the game.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>POST GAME WITH THE TOREROS\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>NEXT UP<\/b><br \/>The Toreros will now enjoy some down time before returning to action in a week to face Gonzaga (12-6, 4-1 WCC) on Saturday, January 17 at 2:00 p.m. from the McCarthey Center. Live video and live statistic links for Saturday&#8217;s game can be found via the <a href=\"https:\/\/usdtoreros.com\/sports\/womens-basketball\/schedule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">team&#8217;s schedule page<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Story Links&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; Next Game: at Gonzaga 1\/17\/2026 | 2&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":507628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-507627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-sandiego","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115874361774137038","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}