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PORTLAND, Ore. --- Freshman Ellen Nurmi poured in a career-high 19 points and the Pilots rallied back from a double-digit first-half deficit, but the San Diego Toreros prevailed 69-63 in a West Coast Conference women’s basketball game played on Saturday afternoon at the Chiles Center. The loss drops the Pilots to 5-10 overall on the year and to 0-2 in the WCC. San Diego improves to 9-5 and to 1-1 in the league.
 
15 of Nurmi’s points came during a second-half surge that allowed Portland to pull within a single possession multiple times. After trailing by nine at the break, the Pilots scored the first eight points of the second half, capped by a lay-up from junior Amy Pupa that made the score 34-33 in San Diego’s favor.
 
The Toreros were then able to create some separation pushing the lead back up to eight points, but the Pilots refused to falter as Nurmi heated up from the field. With 8:17 remaining, Nurmi buried back-to-back three-pointers to once again pull Portland within a point of the Toreros, who were clinging to a 53-52 lead.
 
Portland remained within a single possession for most of the rest of the game, including after Jasmine Wooton made a pair of free throws to make it 63-61 with four minutes left to play.
 
But from there, the Toreros would force a couple of Portland misses from the floor, grab a handful of clutch rebounds and cause a few crippling Pilot turnovers. San Diego’s leading scorer Amy Kame scored the final six Torero points, including making four consecutive free throws in the closing seconds, to put the game on ice.
 
Nurmi hit three three-pointers on the afternoon, while also finishing with three assists and three steals. Her previous season and career high of 15 points came during a win over Nevada in early December.
 
Portland sophomore guard Jasmine Wooton had a solid all-around performance, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. She also matched a career high with four steals, while committing just two turnovers.
 
Pupa scored in double digits for the second straight game, registering 10 against the Toreros. The forward notched a career-high 17 points against Santa Clara on Thursday night.
 
Kame led four Toreros in double figures with 19 points, while Katelyn McDaniel had 15 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.
 
The game was fairly even statistically, but the Toreros did shoot 43.5 percent (27-for-62) from the field, compared to 39.3 percent (24-for-61) for the Pilots. Both teams scored 19 points off of turnovers and both sides had 13 second-chance points. San Diego out-rebounded Portland 44-32 and claimed a slight 38-32 edge in points in the paint.
 
The Pilots connected on five three-pointers as a team and were 10-for-13 at the foul line, while the Toreros made two three’s and shot 13-for-15 on free throws.
 
The first half was a bit scrappy as San Diego was able to jump out to an 11-point lead before settling for a 34-25 lead at the break.
 
Next up for the Pilots is a trip to the Bay Area for a conference game against the San Francisco Dons on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at War Memorial Gym.