ON TAP: San Francisco faces a tough challenge this weekend, traveling to the Pacific Northwest to play Portland and, West Coast Conference preseason favorite, Gonzaga. Thursday, the Dons and Pilots will tip at 7 p.m. before USF faces the Zags on Saturday at 2 p.m. LAST TIME ON THE FLOOR: USF was unable to break a 10-game losing streak last Saturday, falling 54-47 at Santa Clara. Rheina Ale recorded her seventh straight game with 10-plus points with 11 points and six rebounds. The win for the Broncos snapped their own 10 game skid.
NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE: San Francisco will return to the friendly confines of War Memorial Gym next weekend, opening the second half of WCC action. USF will host San Diego Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. before welcoming Saint Mary’s to WMG Saturday at 2.
DONS LOOKING TO STOP SKID: This weekend, the Dons will be looking to break a 11-game losing streak when they travel to the Pacific Northwest. The 11 game skid is a school record for consecutive losses. The previous record of eight games was accomplished twice - once during the 1998-99 season and the other in 1988-89.
DONS, BRONCOS JOIN TO AID HAITI RELIEF EFFORTS: In response to the devastating earthquake two weeks ago in Haiti, the Dons and Broncos teamed up last weekend to help raise money to fund relief efforts in Haiti. Both teams agreed to initiate a fund-raising drive prior to the local rivalry game Saturday, January 23 at Santa Clara’s Leavey Center. Donations were accepted at the main entrances and additional checks were mailed directly to the SCU women’s basketball office. In total, the Dons and Broncos collected over $4,200. ALE CONTINUES TO PUT UP DOUBLE DIGITS: Sophomore guard Rheina Ale has posted double-digits in the past seven games and in 13 of the past 15. The run includes three games with 20-plus points, including a career-high 25 points, 24 in the second half at Pacific. As a freshman, Ale posted 17 games with 10-plus pints, including the final four games of the 2009 campaign. In games where she scores 10-plus points, Ale averages 16.1 points per outing.
USF RECORDS SEASON FIRST: Four starters for USF scored in double-digits against Sacramento State, marking the first time this season the feat has been accomplished. Last season, four starters scored 10-plus points on five occasions, including during the Dons’ 64-55 victory over Sacramento State in Sacramento. During the tilt, former Don Shay Rollins led USF with 22 points.
FOUR DONS POST CAREER-HIGHS AGAINST HORNETS:Rheina Ale, Brittany Brumfield, Heidi Anton and Nnenna Okereke each posted career highs as the Dons fell to Sacramento State last week. Ale earned nine rebounds, bettering her previous personal-best by one rebound. Ale had recorded eight rebounds against Loyola Maryland. Brumfield recorded a dozen points, to improver her previous career-high of nine points set in the Dons’ last outing, Loyola Maryland. Okereke posted two career highs thanks to eight points and an assist. Anton rounds out USF players with career nights, pulling down two boards.
SAN FRANCISCO PARTICIPATES IN THE 2009-10 JESUIT BASKETBALL SPOTLIGHT: USF is proud of its rich Jesuit heritage and the Dons will compete in no fewer than eight games against fellow Jesuit schools during the 2009-10 season. San Francisco squares off against Gonzaga, Saturday, at the McCarthey Center in a Jesuit school series dating back to the 1985. San Francisco is taking part in the Jesuit Spotlight Project for the second consecutive season, using Jesuit basketball to raise awareness of the outstanding education available at the nation’s 28 Jesuit colleges and universities. For more information, log on to www.ajcunet.edu/jesuitbasketball.
3,255 SETS DECADE-HIGH ATTENDANCE MARK: December 22, when the Dons hosted nationally-ranked Tennessee, 3,255 fans packed into War Memorial Gym. The attendance marked the highest total this decade for a women’s basketball game. The only other time since 1999 that USF cracked the 3,000 mark for a women’s game when 3,212 watched the Dons fall 75-64 to regional foe Stanford (11/19/99) in the season opener. On the flip side, the crowd marked the smallest attendance for a Tennessee game, either home or away, since January 31, 2008, when the Lady Vols played at Ole Miss in front of 3,120 fans. TAYLOR GRABS THREE-YEAR HIGH FOR REBOUNDS:Donnisha Taylor posted 17 rebounds against Cal Poly, marking a career-high, while also posting the most rebounds for a Don since the 2006-07 season. Former Don Nikki Warren pulled down 21 boards against Colorado State in a 62-51 victory, November 17, 2006. The San Francisco record for rebounds in a single game is held by Linda Walsh, who grabbed 25 rebounds against Cal Poly, December 15, 1981. ALE ERUPTS IN THE SECOND HALF, FALLS SHORT OF RECORD:Rheina Ale erupted in the second half of the contest at Pacific, scoring 24 points in the final 20 minutes. Ale posted just one point in the first half, after only playing three minutes due to two early fouls. The 24 second half points is one point shy of the school record for points in the second half, set by Dominique Carter in 2008. Ale was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, including five 3-pointers, to mark the second time in her career the native of Carson has been perfect from the field in her career. DONS’ VIKING VOYAGE: San Francisco took its game overseas in May, embarking on an 11-day, five game tour of Scandinavia. During the trip, the Dons visited Stockholm, Sweden, Oslo, Norway and Copenhagen, Denmark, facing off against some of the top’s women’s basketball programs in the region. USF finished the trip with a 3-2 record, including a victory against the top team in Norway and two victories against the Danish National Team. USF BASKETBALL RETURNS TO KUSF: USF women’s basketball returns to the airwaves and cyberspace for the 2008-09 season with a bulk of the games available on KUSF 90.3 in San Francisco and all games available on USFDons.com. Join George Devine for the play-by-play in his 14th year behind the mic for the Dons. Other features on USFDons.com include GameTracker, courtesy of CSTV.com with live play-by-play and streaming video of all home games courtesy of Yahoo Broadcast. Devine also serves at the host of the WCC “The Road To Las Vegas” weekly webcast, which features highlights, player interviews and previews of WCC match-ups.
