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USF Women Host Portland & Gonzaga
Feb. 14, 2003 LADY DONS LOOK TO WIN AT HOME: San Francisco looks to bounce back from a disappointing 58-52 loss to Bay Area rival Saint Mary's when they host Portland and Gonzaga in West Coast Conference action this weekend on the Hilltop. USF looks to avenge a road sweep suffered on the Pilots and Bulldogs home floor in the second week of league action. Both teams split last weekend, with both falling to league-leading Pepperdine, while both posted wins against Loyola Marymount. USF enters the contest having won two of their last three after capturing their first sweep at Pepperdine and at Loyola Marymount since the 1997 campaign to improve their road record to 6-6 on the season. The Pilots have struggled on the road this season, going 2-9 away from the Chiles Center, but take on the Lady Dons where they seem to be most vulnerable: at War Memorial Gym. So far during the 2002-2003 season, USF has won just twice in the once friendly confines with their last home victory coming in a 62-44 pasting of Seton Hall Nov. 29. LADY DONS AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS: Two Lady Dons rank in the top-15 among NCAA Division I statistical leaders, as released Feb. 10 Junior forward Carey Sauer, who finished the 2001-2002 season ranked third in free throw percentage at .918 (90-98), currently ranks 11th at .895 (77-86). Sophomore guard Toni Russell is 15th in steals per game with 3.6 swipes per outing. PLAY THEM ALL ON THE ROAD: With a 71-61 victory at Pepperdine Jan. 31 and a 56-47 win at Loyola Marymount the next night, USF evened their 2002-2003 road record at 6-6, 3-2 during West Coast Conference action. Last season when the Lady Dons tallied a 18-12 overall record, they went 7-6 on the road, but posted a sparkling 10-5 mark at War Memorial Gym. USF is just 2-8 at home so far this season. SCOUTING THE PILOTS: Portland travels to the Bay Area this week in search of their elusive first West Coast Conference road victory. The Pilots snapped a season-long four-game losing streak with a 57-56 win against Loyola Marymount last Saturday in the Chiles Center. The Pilots shoot the ball at a .406 (511-1259) clip from the floor and average 65.8 points per night. Portland has one of the premier players in the WCC in junior forward Khalila O'Rielly-Williams, who leads the league in scoring (17.4) and ranks fourth in rebounds (7.1). O'Rielly-Williams is deadly from the field, converting on .465 (146-314) and averages 2.9 steals per game. Freshman guard Michaela Dalgleish adds 12.0 points and dishes out 2.7 assists per game. Jim Sollars is in his 17th season as the head coach at Portland, where he has posted a 249-233 record. The four-time WCC Coach of the Year guided the Pilots into five postseason appearances with four berths in the NCAA Tournament. SERIES RECORD/STREAK: USF leads 21-14/UP won one LAST MEETINGS: at Portland 73, USF 59 (1/18/03)
LAST TIME AGAINST THE LADY DONS: Junior forward Carey Sauer pumped in a career-high 32 points, but it was not nearly enough as USF dropped a 73-59 decision to Portland at the Chiles Center. The Lady Dons committed 20 turnovers and lost the rebound battle 29-27. Despite shooting .467 (21-45) from the field, San Francisco was chilly from 3-point land converting on just .273 (3-11), while the Pilots connected nine times from long distance. Sophomore center Leeane Jensen scored 11 points, while Toni Russell added 10 points. Khalila O'Rielly-Williams scored 19 points to go along with 14 rebounds, while Michaela Dalgleish had a career-high 21 points for the Pilots.
PROBABLE GONZAGA BULLDOGS STARTERS (AS OF 2/10/03): G. #10 Shannon Mathews, 5-6, So. (11.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 5.3 assists) G. #21 Triana Allen, 5-6, Sr. (9.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.1 assists) C. #30 Ashley Anderson, 6-0, Fr. (3.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.9 assists) F. #13 Ashley Burke, 6-1, So. (13.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.0 assists) F. #32 Raenna Jewell, 5-10, Fr. (8.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.9 assists) USF LADY DONS Probable Starters - (As Of 2/10/03): G. #2 Toni Russell, 5-3, So. (8.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.0 assists, 3.6 steals) G. #22 Joy Hollingsworth, 5-10, Fr. (9.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.0 steals) G. #13 Merisa Leatherman, 5-10, Jr. (4.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.6 assists) C. #5 Leeane Jensen, 6-3, So. (7.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.4 assists) F. #42 Carey Sauer, 6-0, Jr. (15.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.0 assists) SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Gonzaga travels to the Bay Area boasting a 14-10 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga has posted one of the greatest turnarounds of any team in the league from a year ago and has now won more WCC games this season (5) than they had in the previous three campaigns. The Zags, winners of five of their last seven, own a 1-3 record in road conference games and have not won at War Memorial Gym since 2000. Sophomore forward Ashley Burke leads two players in double-figure scoring at 13.5 points to go along with a team-high 5.9 rebounds. Sophomore guard Shannon Mathews (niece of USF men's basketball coach Phil Mathews) adds 11.9 points and leads the WCC in assists with 5.3 dishes per night. Senior guard Triana Allen averages 9.8 points. The Zags aren't shy about shooting the three and have made 140 in 24 games, averaging 5.8 treys per game and convert at a .332 (140-422) clip from long distance. Gonzaga shoots well from the floor in general, converting on .423 (580-1371) on the season. Kelly Graves is in his third year, where he has posted a 30-51 record with the Bulldogs. Graves owns a 96-77 overall record and spent three seasons at league rival Saint Mary's. SERIES RECORD/STREAK: USF leads 21-11/USF won one LAST MEETINGS: at Gonzaga 59, USF 47 (1/16/03)
LAST TIME AGAINST THE LADY DONS: Junior forward Carey Sauer scored a team-high 18 points, but San Francisco shot at a .274 pace for the game, falling 59-47 at Gonzaga. The Lady Dons shot a miserable .200 in the second half and lost the battle of the boards 42-37 and committed 19 turnovers in losing in Spokane for the first time since 1999. Freshman guard Joy Hollingsworth scored 13 for USF. SAUER APPROACHING GRAND CLUB: Junior forward Carey Sauer has continued her assault on the USF career scoring charts and the next stop is 1,000 career points after surpassing 900 at Portland (1/18/03). Following a 16-point night against Saint Mary's, Sauer has scored 995 points in two-plus seasons on the Hilltop and is the 15th player in program history to surpass 900 points and first since Lindsey Huff (1997-2002) achieved the plateau last season. Sauer ranks 15th on the USF career scoring charts and needs just eight points to pass Kim Bachman (1978-83) in 14th place. Bachman scored 1,002 points in her career on the Hilltop. Sauer has reached double-figures in scoring 50 times on the Hilltop in 80 career games. A 2002 All-West Coast Conference First Team selection, Sauer scored an amazing 2,100 points during her prep career in Washington.
USF ON THE RADIO AND THE NET: USF women's basketball begins its seventh season on the radio and in cyberspace for the 2002-2003 season. All 28 USF Lady Dons regular season games will be broadcast this year on both the air (KUSF, 90.3 FM) and the web, courtesy of YahooBroadcast. Women's hoops fans can access the internet broadcasts from their personal computers from the official website of the USF Athletic Department, www.usfdons.com. George Devine, the Dean of women's basketball broadcasters in the West Coast Conference returns for his seventh season of bringing all the exciting play-by-play from his position courtside.
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