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Dons Set For WCC Tournament
March 3, 2010
ON TAP: USF will open the West Coast Conference Tournament Friday at, approximately, 2:30. The seventh-seeded Dons will take on No. 6 Loyola Marymount. The winner of Friday's game will face No. 4 Pepperdine Saturday at, approximately, 2:30. The winner of the conference tournament will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
LAST TIME ON THE FLOOR: San Francisco dropped two games during the final weekend of West Coast Conference action, falling to Portland 80-52 before dropping a 83-35 decision to No. 19/20 Gonzaga.
ALE EARNS ALL-WCC HONORABLE MENTION ACCOLADES: Rheina Ale, a sophomore guard for the University of San Francisco women's basketball team, has been awarded All-West Coast Conference honorable mention accolades for the 2010 season, as announced by the conference office Monday. The native of Carson, Calif. started all 14 league contests, leading the Dons with 12.6 points per game. The 5-8 guard averaged 4.9 rebounds against WCC foes, while dishing out a team-high 33 assists with 14 steals and six blocks. Ale finished the conference season ranking in the top-15 in six lists. Ale recorded double-digits in all but two of the 14 WCC games, including two tilts with 17 points. She also led the USF scoring efforts in all but one game, while appearing in the box score as the top-rebounding force twice. The honorable mention nod marks the first of Ale's career and the 17th honorable mention accolade in program history. In total, the Dons have earned 47 All-WCC honors.
SINGLETERRY, ANTON EARN ACADEMIC HONORS: Vania Singleterry and Heidi Anton of the USF women's basketball program have been awarded West Coast Conference All-Academic accolades, as announced by the league office last week. Singleterry was named to the 2010 Winter All-Academic Team, while Anton was awarded honorable mention accolades. Singleterry earned her first All-Academic honor, majoring in Exercise Science with a 3.53 grade point average. Singleterry has started all 29 games this season for the Dons, averaging 8.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Anton, a native of Santa Rosa, earned honorable mention honors thanks to a 3.35 GPA in Psychology. The sophomore guard has appeared in all 29 games this season, garnering four starts - all in league action. Anton averages 3.3 points, 1.0 rebounds in all contests and 4.5 points, 1.1 rebounds against league foes. Singleterry and Anton become the 18th and 19th All-Academic selections in school history and the first since USF garnered three selections in 2008.
LION SLAYER: Sophomore guard Vania Singleterry appears to have a favorite team to play against, Loyola Marymount. This season, in both contests, Singleterry as recorded a season-high 16 points with seven rebounds. Last season, as a freshman, Singleterry posted her career-high of 18 points. For her career, Singleterry far surpasses her career average, averaging 15.5 points and six rebounds per game against Loyola Marymount.
ALE GAINS GROUND IN SINGLE SEASON RECORD BOOK: Sophomore Rheina Ale will finish the season with three spots in the single season record book. The guard currently ranks fourth in single season in three-point baskets made. Currently Ale has connected with 58 baskets from deep, one shy of Andrea Kagie's (1997) 59. She also currently ranks tied for sixth with Kim Whisler (2001) in free throw percentage, hitting 95-of-133, for a .841 average. Finally, Ale currently is seventh in the single season minutes played list with 1,014, nine minutes behind Renee Demirdjian's 1,025 minutes played in 1997.
DONS HALT SKID: Saturday, February 20, against Santa Clara, the Dons finally broke a school-record 17-game losing streak as they took down the Broncos 58-52 at War Memorial Gym The previous record of eight games was accomplished twice - once during the 1998-99 season and the other in 1988-89.
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 3.9 points and 2.7 boards a game. Forward Bailey Barbour has been a force down low for the Dons, earning two starts, averaging 2.2 rebounds in conference play. Whitney Daniels, a forward from Southern California, has started the past nine games, averaging 3.6 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.
WCC 25TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM: To commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the West Coast Conference sponsoring women's athletics, the WCC announced a 25th Anniversary Team. The team is comprised of the top 50 former female student-athletes to have ever competed in the conference. Nine former USF standouts are included on the list. Valerie Gillon and Brittany Lindhe, both former basketball players, were named to the First Team, while Brittanie Budinger (VB), Dominique Carter (WBB), Melanie Kaiser (VB), Susie Laing (Golf), Jessica Potter (Golf), Toni Russell (WBB) and Jamie Shadian (WBB) were awarded honorable mention accolades. Lindhe will be on hand this week at the WCC Championships in Las Vegas as the conference honors the 50 women selected to the team.
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. Devine will also serve as the voice of WCC basketball for seven games during the conference tournament in Vegas. He will also emcee the WCC 25th Anniversary of Women's Sports dinner, Saturday, March 6 at the Orleans.
SCOUTING LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: Loyola Marymount finished the regular season with a 12-16 record, including a 5-9 mark in West Coast Conference play. They are led by Alex Cowling, who averages 17.3 points per game with 6.9 boards. LMU is coached by Juile Wilhoit.
SERIES RECORD/STREAK: USF leads the all-time series with the Lions 28-25, including two consecutive wins last season by the Dons. Prior to the series sweep, Loyola Marymount had won the past 10 straight meetings.
LAST MEETING: San Francisco women's basketball held a halftime lead but Alex Cowling and Loyola Marymount were too much for the Dons, who dropped a 58-48 decision at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles. Vania Singleterry led San Francisco in front of a large USF crowd with 16 points.
LAST FOUR MEETINGS:
• Feb. 13, 2010 - @LMU 58, USF 48 • Jan. 14, 2010 - LMU 63, @USF 55
• Jan. 31, 2009 - USF 58, @LMU 56 • Feb. 26, 2009 - @USF 65, LMU 61
SERIES NOTES:
• Vania Singleterry leads all current Dons against the Lions. In four games against LMU, the sophomore guard has posted four of her best games, averaging 15.5 points and six rebounds. This season Singleterry scored a season-high 16 points and seven rebounds in both games against LMU.
• Rheina Ale led the Dons' defensive efforts against the Lions this season, averaging 6.5 rebounds per game. The sophomore guard also added 14.5 points per game, while recording four assists a block and two steals.
WCC TOURNAMENT V. LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: San Francisco and Loyola Marymount have met four times in the West Coast Conference Tournament, three of which encounters came in the first round. USF hold the advantage during the tournament against LMU, holding a 3-1 advantage. The higher seed has been the victor in each meeting.
WCC TOURNAMENT MEETINGS:
• #1 USF 58, #8 LMU 36 - 1995 First Round @ Santa Clara
• #2 USF 65, #7 LMU 35 - 1996 First Round @ Santa Clara
• #3 LMU 73, #5 USF 56 - 2001 Semifinals @ San Diego
• #4 USF 65, #5 LMU 63 - 2002 First Round @ San Diego
WCC TOURNAMENT SERIES NOTES:
• The Dons win over the Lions in the 1995 tournament sparked the first of back-to-back-to-back tournament titles, and NCAA berths, for USF.
• The 1995 win was the first of nine-consecutive WCC Tournament wins for San Francisco.
• The 1996 victory was the first step towards USF becoming the first two-time Tournament winner in conference history.
• USF head coach Tanya Haave is 1-3 all-time in the WCC Tournament
• LMU head coach Julie Wilhoit is 10-13 all-time in the Tournament
USF IN THE WCC TOURNAMENT: USF owns an 8-12 overall record in the WCC Tournament. The Dons won the event during three consecutive seasons - 1995, 1996 and 1997. Since winning the event in 1997, San Franisco has gone 3-11 in the Tournament. USF's last victory at the Tournament was an 80-69 victory over San Diego in the opening round in 2007. Since the victory, the Dons have dropped the past three games.
AS A SEVEN SEED: This season marks the fifth consecuitve year the Dons have been a seven seed at the WCC Tournament. All time as the seven seed, San Francisco is 2-3. During the past two seasons, as the seven seed, USF has lost its games by five or less points.
USF V. THE TOURNAMENT FIELD:
• Gonzaga 2-1 • Loyola Marymount 3-1 • Pepperdine 2-2
• Portland 4-0 • Saint Mary's 2-1 • San Diego 1-2
• Santa Clara 0-6
2009 WCC TOURNAMENT: The Dons secured the seven seed to the Tournament in Las Vegas. In the opening round, USF fought hard, leading for a majority the game, but eventually fell to the sixth seed, San Diego. USD used a late second-half surge to post the 73-64 victory. The Toreros went on to upset No. 3 Pepperdine in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Portland in the semifinals, before falling in the Championship game to Gonzaga.
