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Dons Close Out Regular Season With Loss
Feb. 27, 2010
Senior Day Photo Gallery
(San Francisco) - In the final regular season game of the 2009-10 season, the University of San Francisco fell to visiting No. 19/20 Gonzaga, 83-35, at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco. USF will conclude the season next week at the West Coast Conference Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
The Dons ended the regular season 5-26, 1-13 in conference action. Gonzaga, who won the league's regular title for the sixth straight season, capped its regular season with a 25-4, 14-0 conference record.
San Francisco will have to await the release of the NCAA RPI rankings Sunday before finding out their fate in the West Coast Conference Tournament. Both USF and Santa Clara finished the WCC season with a 1-13 record, forcing a tie-break. The school with the highest RPI Sunday morning will be the seventh seed, the other the eight seed. Heading into Saturday's games, Santa Clara held an edge with an RPI of 297 (.4105). San Francisco's RPI was 300 (.4056). Depending on the outcome of the tiebreak and games still to be played Saturday night, USF could face Portland, San Diego or Loyola Marymount Friday in Las Vegas.
Gonzaga led early and often in the contest, allowing the Dons to take the lead just once. At 13:35 in the first half, sophomore Rheina Ale hit a three-point to put the Dons up 9-8, but the Zags came roaring back to hold the Dons to just 10 more points during the half.
San Francisco struggled in the second half, rattling off just one point in the opening five minutes. Combined with a two and a half minute scoring drought to end the first half, Gonzaga held USF scoreless for nearly six minutes during the middle of the contest. The Dons struggled to hit any shots in the second half, going 7-for-35 from the field, and just 1-of-4 from the free throw line. For the second half, the Zags posted a .500 shooting percentage, going 16-for-32 from the field.
Ale led the Dons with nine points, three rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block. The game marked the second straight contest in which the sophomore failed to post 10-plus points, a feat Ale hadn't falled victim to since late in the regular season last year.
Tawny Drexler paced the USF defense with six rebounds, while adding six points. Katy Keating and Vania Singleterry each added five points and four rebounds for the Dons.
Gonzaga was led Heather Bowman with 21 points. Vivian Frieson, Courtney Vandersloot and Kayla Standish each posted double-digit scoring efforts for the Zags with 16, 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Please check www.USFDons.com Sunday with complete seeding and brackets for the 2010 West Coast Conference Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
