Women's Basketball Hosts Santa Clara Saturday

Feb. 18, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

ON TAP: San Francisco looks to snap its losing streak Saturday when it hosts rival Santa Clara at War Memorial Gym. The tip between the Broncos and Dons is scheduled for 7 p.m.

LAST TIME ON THE FLOOR: USF continued its skid, dropping a pair of games at Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. Against the Waves, the Dons fell 68-49, before falling late in the game two days later at LMU, falling 58-48.

NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE: USF will close out the 2010 regular season next weekend, hosting Portland and Gonzaga at War Memorial Gym. Thursday’s tip against the Pilots is scheduled for 7 p.m., while Saturday’s game at 2 p.m. against the Zags will serve as Senior Day. Prior to the tip, USF will honor and recognize its lone senior, Nnenna Okereke

USF CREATES A PINK ZONE: The USF women’s basketball team will hosted its annual “Pink Zone” game, two weeks ago against the Gaels. Fans were encouraged to join the Dons and Gaels in the unified effort to raise breast cancer awareness by wearing pink to the game. As part of the event, USF and SMC sported pink shooting shirts during warm-ups. The USF coaching and support staff recognized the event by wearing pink, while the officials will use bright pink whistles. The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association began the WBCA “Pink Zone”, formerly known as “Think Pink”, in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women’s basketball, on campuses and in the community. In 2007, over 120 schools unified for the effort, helping to make the inaugural year a success.

DONS LOOKING TO STOP SKID: This week, the Dons will be looking to break a 17-game losing streak when they head to Los Angeles. The 17 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.

SINGLETERRY TAKES CONTROL OVER LIONS: Saturday, for the first time in 12 games, Rheina Ale was not the Dons’ leading scorer. Instead, the honor went to sophomore Vania Singleterry with 16 points at Loyola Marymount. The 16 points tied a season-high for Singleterry, who also tallied 16 against the Lions at home in January. The guard from Murrietta seems to enjoy playing against the Lions, as her career-high of 18 points came at the hands of LMU last season.

OKEREKE POST CAREER NIGHT IN PORTLAND:  Senior guard/forward Nnenna Okereke posted a career night in Portland, setting (or tying) personal records in three categories. Okereke tied a personal best with eight points, a feat she also accomplished against Sacramento State (1/5/10).  In Portland, the native of Berkeley also tied a personal best with one assists, while setting a career-high with a pair of steals.

FRESHMAN GAIN VALUABLE EXPERIENCE: This season, USF’s roster features four freshmen, who are earning valuable playing time in their first season on the Hilltop. Three of the four have earned the starting nod at some point this season, while as a group, they average 12.2 minutes a game. Mel Khlok, a guard from Sacramento, has earned four starts this season, averaging 4.3 points and 2.9 boards a game. Forward Bailey Barbour has been a force down low for the Dons, earning two starts, averaging 2.3 rebounds in conference play. Whitney Daniels, a forward from Southern California, has started the past six games, averaging 3.3 boards against WCC foes. Ashley Boggs, a guard from Petaluma, averages 2.2 points, 1.9 rebounds a game as a reserve for the Dons.

DONS, BRONCOS JOIN TO AID HAITI RELIEF EFFORTS: In response to the devastating earthquake last month in Haiti, the Dons and Broncos teamed up in their last meeting 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. In conjunction with $2,500 raised by the USF men’s basketball team, the Dons basketball programs have raised $6,700 towards Haiti relief.

ALE CONTINUES TO PUT UP DOUBLE DIGITS: Sophomore guard Rheina Ale has posted double-digits in the past 13 games and in 19 of the past 21. 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 points, including the final four games of the 2009 campaign.

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 rounded out USF players with career nights, pulling down two boards.

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.

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.

SCOUTING SANTA CLARA: The Broncos head into Saturday’s game with a 3-23 overall record, 1-10 in WCC action. Their lone WCC victory, and last win came against the Dons. Santa Clara is led by Alyssa Shjoi, who averages 14.2 points per game. Forward Lena Gipson averages nearly a double-double with 12.2 points,9.9 boards per outing. SCU is coached by Jen Mountain, who is in her second season with the Broncos.

SERIES RECORD/STREAK: Santa Clara leads the all-time series record 39-32. Prior to the first game this season, USF had won every other game against SCU, with the streak broken this year

LAST MEETING: Rheina Ale recorded her seventh straight contest with 10-plus points as the USF women’s basketball team dropped a 54-47 decision to West Coast Conference rival Santa Clara at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif. Ale led San Francisco with 11 points, six rebounds.

2009-10 Series:
    • Jan. 23, 2010 - @SCU 54, USF 47

2008-09 Series:
    • Jan. 24, 2009 - @USF 48, SCU 45
    • Feb. 21, 2009 - @SCU 51, USF 46

SERIES NOTES:

    • Prior to the last meeting, no team had won back-to-back games in the all-time series since the Broncos won six consecutive games betwen 2005 and 2007.