SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Tournament Most Valuable Player Tyresa Smith (at right) scored 23 points to lead the University of Delaware women’s basketball team to a dominating 71-47 win over host University of San Francisco and the title at the USF Odwalla Classic Tournament Saturday night at War Memorial Gymnasium.

Smith, who led the Blue Hens to first round 86-70 win over No. 20 Kentucky with 28 points Friday night, set a tournament scoring record with 51 total points and also added eight rebounds, five assists and five steals to lead the Blue Hens (4-1) to their third straight win.

The Hens have now won an in-season holiday tournament four times in the last five seasons after winning titles at Saint Joseph’s last season, at Fairfield in 2003-04, and at Dartmouth in 2002-03. Smith broke the tournament scoring record of 48 points by Oakland University’s Nicole Piggott in 2004.

Junior guard Kyle DeHaven added 15 points and four steals for the Blue Hens while Alena Koshansky chipped in with 11 points, including two three-pointers, and six steals and Melissa Czorniewy added eight points.

Smith moved into 14th place on the all-time UD scoring list with 1,098 points past Donna Werner and Sharon Howett. Delaware collected a school record 24 steals for the game, surpassing the previous mark of 23 set against Virginia Commonwealth at the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament on March 14, 2003.

“Overall, it was an outstanding weekend of basketball for us,” said Delaware head coach Tina Martin. “It was a total team concept both offensively and defensively. Winning a tournament like this gives us confidence that we can compete against very good programs. To come all the way across the country and play two games like we did - that’s a good sign.”

Delaware forced 17 first half turnovers (32 for the game) on the way to a 47-23 halftime lead and never looked back in posting the win. The Hens jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held the advantage the entire game as they hit 15 of their first 20 shots from the field and four of their first five three-pointers to jump out to a 35-9 advantage. Smith scored 17 of her 23 points in the opening 20 minutes as the Hens shot 65.5 percent from the field.

San Francisco (2-4), which defeated Southern Illinois 67-60 in the first round Friday, got a team-high 13 points from all-tournament selection Dominique Carter while Nickie Warren and Shay Rollins each scored nine points. Also named to the All-Tournament team were Delaware’s Chrissy Fisher, Kentucky’s Sarah Elliott, and Southern Illinois’ Carlai Moore.

In the consolation game played earlier in the evening, No. 20 Kentucky (3-2) downed Southern Illinois 78-54 as Samantha Mahoney led four scorers in double figures with 17 points. Southern Illinois (1-4) got 27 points from Moore in the loss.

Delaware will return to action Nov. 29 at the University of Pennsylvania for a 7 p.m. start at The Palestra.

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