Women's Basketball | 11/2/2016 3:21:00 PM

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THIS WEEK:
Cal State Monterey Bay at San Francisco (Exhibition)
Friday, Nov. 4 - 7 p.m. | War Memorial at the Sobrato Center
Live Stats | Audio-Only Broadcast
 
Transition begets new opportunities. The USF women's basketball team will begin forging its new identity under first-year head coach Molly Goodenbour on Friday night when the Dons host Cal State Monterey Bay in an exhibition contest at 7 p.m. at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
 
The program underwent a significant regime shift when former head coach Jennifer Azzi announced her resignation on Sept. 15 after six years at the helm, opening the door for Goodenbour – Azzi's Stanford Cardinal teammate during the 1989-90 season - to take over the reigns of a team coming off its first West Coast Conference championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996-97.
 
Goodenbour, who is embarking on her third stint on the USF women's basketball coaching staff after serving as an assistant in 1994-95 and 2005-06, will enjoy the added benefit of having all but two letterwinners return from last year's championship squad. Granted, those two graduating seniors – Taylor Proctor and Zhané Dikes – leave sizeable holes to fill as Proctor (18.4 ppg) and Dikes (13.4 ppg) were USF's top two scorers last season. But with all change comes an open door for others to step up and seize the opportunity.
 
Senior guard Rachel Howard – a preseason All-WCC selection - will likely help Goodenbour fill that void as the Dons' leading returning scorer at 11.6 points per game last year and its lone returning all-conference honoree. Howard will team with junior guard Anna Seilund (6.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg), senior forward Claudia Price (5.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and junior forward Michaela Rakova (4.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg) as the squad's most veteran members heading into the year. 
 
"It's a work in progress for sure," said Goodenbour, whose team was picked to finish seventh in the WCC preseason poll. "We're asking them to do some things that are different from what they've done in the past; asking people to transition into new roles, regardless of the coaching change, they're going to have to fill some different roles with the departure of Taylor and Z from last year."
 
After a month of practice, the identity of the squad is starting to take shape.
 
"I think we have some versatility," Goodenbour said. "I think we have some forwards who can run the floor well. I think we'll have a pretty good defensive team. We need to play some games and figure out what we need to keep getting better at. It's encouraging so far, we just need to get started with the season.
 
"One of the things we'd like is to have some toughness. Mental and physical toughness has been a theme that we've tried to talk about and have reflected in our practices each day."
 
Newcomers Anna Pierce (Plano, TX / Parish Episcopal HS) and Nia Alexander (Federal Way, Wash. / Todd Beamer HS) will help add depth to the backcourt to supplement the return of junior Kalyn Simon (3.7 ppg, 1.3 apg), senior Raushan Gultekin (1.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg) and sophomore Jaylin Jones (1.5 ppg). 6-foot-2 freshman Ninni Salmi could add size to the guard position coming off a redshirt year as well. 
 
Under the basket, 6-foot-4 sophomore Zayn Dornstauder looks to emerge after averaging 2.3 points per game and 1.1 boards per contest in 17 appearances as a freshman and Hashima Carothers (3.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg) will be looked upon for some grit and senior leadership out of the forward position. Meanwhile, 6-foot-3 twin sisters Alicia (1.3 ppg) and Cierra (redshirt) Roufosse add to a frontcourt that sizes up as one of the tallest in the Division I ranks, featuring six women over six feet tall.
 
Altogether, it shapes up as a roster that features a lot of experience but leaves open plenty of opportunities for new stalwarts to emerge.  
 
"We need to figure out who our leaders are on and off the court," Goodenbour added. "We're looking for consistency from different positions, we're looking for a vocal floor leader, we're looking for people who know what's going on every single play, every single day. That for us is one of the biggest challenges, because they're transitioning into roles they haven't necessarily had to play before."
 
Friday's exhibition against Cal State Monterey Bay will be a good measuring stick for Goodenbour and the Dons as they look ahead to the regular season opener at home against Sacramento State on Nov. 11. Win, lose or draw, Goodenbour sees the opener as one part in the greater process of figuring out who this year's squad will ultimately be.   
 
"I'd like to see the effort of course," Goodenbour said. "That's really important to me. I'd like to see us defend and iron out our offense a little bit; our transition game has been a theme this week. Bust mostly it's effort related – control the things you can control."