Hey guys, this weekend is the PINK ZONE! Please join the Dons by wearing pink to the game Saturday to help bring awareness towards breast cancer. The Dons will be wearing Pink shooting shirts and the coaching staff will be wearing pink to help honor the cause. The efforts are just one of many things the Dons do throughout the year to promote awareness towards social causes, while also helping out the community. 

In fact, earlier this season, USF teamed with Santa Clara to help raise money for the Haiti earthqauke victims. In conjunction with

the Broncos, the two teams raised over $2,400 to help out with relief efforts in the country. The men's team also raised money earlier this seaosn, with the two teams helping to raise over $5,000 dollars in total.

Last weekend, USF traveled to the Pacific Northwest and, despite the crazy travel schedule (three flights in four days), the Dons managed to have a little fun. In Spokane, at Riverfront Park, lives the world's largest Radio Flyer Red Wagon. The wagon was built in 1990, consisting of 26 tons of steel and reinforced concrete. The 12-foot high, 27-foot long wagon can hold as many as 300 people. The artist who designed it, spent six to seven days a week for a year building the $36,000 sculpture, for which he received a $30,000 commission. Enjoy the picutres below - thanks to Tawny and Rosie for them! I apologize for the quality, all any of us had was cameras on our phones!

• The Dons are in the middle of a conference wide contest - Soles4Souls. USF is soliciting shoe donations that will help Haiti earthquake victims. Donations can be made in the USF athletic department.
  
• The third episode of WCC Live is now available - this week it was filmed at War Memorial Gym!
• And...for the sake of the Hilltop...there was a big game Saturday night for the men....watch the celebrations.
  

So the Dons are hitting the midway point of the conference season this afternoon. The Dons have struggled as of late, dropping the past 10 straight. This afternoon USF is at Santa Clara, facing with the Broncos of Santa Clara, who are also on a 10 game win streak. Funny enough, the last teams both team beat - Pacific.

Things on the Hilltop are starting to get into full swing again, with classes starting Monday and all of the student-athletes back on campus. Its starting to get busy, once again. Somteimes I feel like its a never ending cycle.

Today's game also marks a collaboration between the Dons and Broncos, as the two teams are joining forces to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti. The teams are encouraging fans to donate to benefit the vicitims of the earthquake last week. More information, if you wish to donate, can be found here.

A few notes:

• Tomorrow is the annual Pete Rozelle SuperBowl Raffle to benefit the USF Athletics Scholarship fund. Information can be found by clicking here. The Dons' Mel Khlok will be speaking at the event about the importance of the fund and how it benefits the program.

• Speaking of Mel, the freshman has encountered quite the road to the Hilltop. It's a story of great dedication and perserverence. From day one, I enjoyed Mel. She has a good personality and is a smart kid. I grew much more respect for her, and her family, after reading this article.One thing I will say about the Khlok family, is its large and travels well. I would guess that the Khlok clan has been at a good 75 percent of the games this year. Her parents, as well as numerous cousins always attend. Her dad's easy to spot, always wearing his USF Dad hat proudly. To top it off, there is always an abudance of delicious Cambodian food on the bus rides home.

• Next weekend USF will face a tough challenge, traveling to Portland and Gonzaga. Gonzaga is currently recieving votes in the top-25 polls. The Zags have rolled through the conference season so far, winning all four contests by 30-plus points.

• For the remainder of the season, the WCC will be featuring a new online show callled the WCCTV: The Road To Las Vegas. The host of the show is the Dons' own George Devine. A new episiode of the on-line broadcast will be posted every Wednesday morning. Until then, check out episode 1 and episode 2.
  

I apologize for the lag in posting. I was fortunate enough to take some time off and enjoy my family and friends in my hometown of Seattle. While I was up north, though, the Lady Dons battled the weather and headed east to Philadelphia to play in the Villanova Wildcat Holiday Tournament. While at Villanova, the Dons took some time to take in some of the sights of the city of brotherly love. USF visited many of the famous Philadelphia sights, including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the "Rocky Steps" and even stopped off for some Cheesesteaks! Check out the photo gallery from the trip. There's some cute photos...thanks to Rosie, our trainer, who was my "official photographer" of all the events.

Little side Philadelphia/Dons note. I am sure many of you are aware, former Don Shay Rollins' older brother, Jimmy, is the starting shortstop for the Phillies! With all the excitement of the Phillies being in the World Series in 2008 and 2009, many staff members of the USF women's basketball program became Phillies fans. The Rollins' family is a wonderful bunch and it warms my heart everytime I see them continue to support USF women's basketball and come to the games, even though Shay graudated last spring.

Just a few more notes for you...

• I am still working on a photo gallery from the Tennessee game, I have over three DVD's of photos to go through, but slowly am making progress and promise a photo gallery of them all up soon.

• We are still awaiting word on the Vote For Val results. I spoke with a conference representative yesterday who said that HOPEFULLY by early next week we will find out if she made the 25th Anniversary Team.

• The Dons open the conference season tonight in Moraga. USF will open WCC action at 7 p.m. before jumping on a plane tomorrow morning to head to San Diego to face the Toreros Sunday.

• One of the biggest USF Athletics fundraisers is looming - the Pete Rozelle Super Bowl Raffle. The Raffle is loaded with awesome prizes - trips to the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, Final Four, MLB All-Star Game, Indy 500, etc. - and is a huge help yearly towards the USF scholarship fund. For information about tickets, contact Julie Congi at congi@usfca.edu. The event was named after former Sports Information Director, Pete Rozelle, who went on to become the commissioner of the NFL, a founder of Monday Night Football and one of the most influential people in sports. In fact, in 1999, The Sporting News named Rozelle as the Most Powerful Person in Sports for the 20th Century.

Ok, I am off to catch the team bus to Moraga for the game tonight. I will update again VERY SOON!

Happy Holidays Don Fans! Well, the past few days have been a whirlwind. We left for Kennewick, flew to Portland, met someone super cool in the airport (more on that in a bit...), drove 3.5 hours to Kennwick, played the Cougars, drove back to Portland, flew home to SFO on SUnday morning, hosted No. 3/4 Tennessee Tuesday and all departed for the Holidays Wednesday. Phew.

While in PDX, Portland's airport, on the way to Kennewick, we met a significant person to the sport of women's basketball - Cheryl Miller. As we departed in Portland, our director of ops, Venice, spotted Miller and asked me if I thought it was INDEED Cheryl Miller. I difused the question because I wasn't quite sure, but after further review with Coach Haave, we established, indeed it was. Coach Haave walked up to Cheryl and said "Cheryl?" Now, little to our knowledge, the two are good friends and Cheryl's reaction was pretty instant. She jumped up and hugged Coach as if they had been long lost relatives - the two played against each other in college, played on national teams together and have had a long last friendship. Cheryl was kind enough to stop in the airport and talk with the team, at length. It was a pretty cool experience. One of the Dons, Donnisha Taylor, was quite excited and moved by the experience. It was a treat to watch a legend interact with our team, provide words of wisdom and spark an excitement I hadn't see in a while in our team.

In other news, USF hosted what could be one of the largest women's games in history at the Hilltop Tuesday, when it hosted No. 3/4 Tennessee. Despite the outcome, the two days leading up to the game were exciting for everyone on campus. The Lady Vols worked out in the gym Monday and the buzz at War Memorial was unreal. It was cool to see all the staff members standing in the balcony to, in essence, watch Pat Summitt do what she does best - coach. After practice Coach Summitt did a few interviews, including one with the Dons' own George Devine, before heading out for some time in The City with her team.

Tuesday was the game, and let me tell you, it was one of the best women's basketball atmosphere's I have experienced since stepping foot on the Hilltop. With over 3,200 fans at WMG, the fans were electric and cheering LOUDLY when the Dons entered the gym. Despite the outcome, it was a great experience. From talking to many of the girls after the game, I could tell that they were genuinely excited and impressed with all of you that came out to support them. One of my most memorable moments came after the game, when the Lady Vols invited the Dons to center court post-game for a prayer. I thought the act of kindness and sportsmanship was very impressive and something that I wish more teams would do. It was very admirable.

I have tons of photos from Tuesday, but with the Holidays quickly approaching and a flight to Seattle awaiting me, I dont have time to edit them. I will post a more comprehensive photo gallery in the new year, but until then, check out this photo gallery, along with the game story and post game quotes. And as a shout out to one of our biggest supporters through the year, and radio guy, George Devine, a photo of him and Naismith Hallf of Fame coach, Pat Summitt doing an interview Monday.

One more quick note, continue to Vote For Val! Voting has been extended until Janurary 3rd and last time I heard, the Dons will keeping hold of the top spot, but we need your help to stay there!

From my family to yours, and the Lady Dons families to yours, we wish you all a safe, sound and Happy Holiday. 

Finals have ended and the team will depart for the Tri Cities, Washington early tomorrow morning to play Washington State. Now, Washington State is located in Pullman but because of Holiday Break for WSU, the Cougars are playing the game as a home contest at a neutral site, the Toyota Center in Kennewick. The Dons game will take part in the opener a double header, which will also feature the Cougars' men's team, who face off against Portland State. The USF/WSU game will be aired live on TV in the greater Eastern Washington area on Spokane's KHQ. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30. For those of you who can get Fox Sports Northwest, the game will be broadcast via tape delay at 10 p.m. Saturday evening.

The trek to Kennewick won't be a short one. The Dons will depart War Memorial Gym at 7:45 in the morning and fly into Portland. Once arriving in Portland, USF will make the 3.5 hour long drive to the Tri-Cities. Immediately following the game Saturday, San Francisco will jump back on the bus and drive back to Portland, before flying out Sunday morning.

Awaiting the Dons in San Francisco is a historic tilt against the Lady Vols of Tennessee. Tuesday, USF will host No. 3 Tennessee at 7 p.m. at War Memorial Gym. It will be the first time that the Lady Vols have visited the Hilltop. For those of you interested in the game, I would recommend attending. It's a great opprotunity to see Women's Basketball at its fullest. Tickets are still available. If you are interested in attending, contact Kyle Janzen at (415) 422-2USF.

A few other notes:

    • Voting continues through Sunday for the 25th Anniversary Women's Athletics Team. Don't forget to vote for the Dons' Val         Gillon. You can vote at the conference website, or by clicking here.

    • Last night, Coach Haave and Donnisha Taylor were featured on WCC Live, the weekly radio broadcast of the West Coast         Conference. The archived version of the show can be heard here, or using the media player below.

So far, I am impressed with your voting abilities, USF Fans. To date, Val Gillon is in second place in the 25th Anniversary Team voting. Kelly Cunningham, a former Gonzaga volleyball palyer, is currently in first place. Cunningham is just over 100 points ahead of Gillon, at last check, in the tally. Keep voting Dons fans! Voting will continue until the 20th.

I will let you in on a little secret about the voting... Once you vote, it appears that you can only vote once. Oh, not the case. If you clear out your history, cookies and cache from your internet browser, you can vote again...I'm not telling you to cheat, but.........take it for what it's worth.

VOTE FOR VAL

For the entire USF release, click here. To view the WCC release and vote, click here.

In other news, we are sitting in lovely Stockton, Calif. We left the gym this afternoon around 2 and drove to Livermore for our pre-game meal. We ate at a lovely Italian resturant selected by our Director of Ops, Venice. If you are ever in Livermore, check out Strizzi's. The staff was very accomdating to us and even had our orders plated and awaiting our arrival. Not the mention, the food was pretty good.

The buzz around campus is starting to build for the Tennessee game, that's coming up on the 22nd. Currently, the Lady Vols are currently ranked No. 3 in the nation and have a strong possibiliy of being ranked 2 or 3 when they arrive on the Hilltop. Should Tennessee remain ranked that high, it will be the highest ranked women's opponents to play in the confines of War Memorial Gym. The Dons have faced two Top-10 teams at home in recent years, dropping both decisions. The last time was during the 2002-03 season, when USF nearly upset then-No. 6 Stanford 59-57. In 1995-96, the Dons hosted then-No. 8 Colorado, falling 66-56.

Speaking of rankings, you can find this week's polls here.

And a little side note. Happy belated birthday to the Dons' trainer, Rosie. Yesterday was Rosie's birthday and since the team didn't have a chance to celebrate with Rosie on her birthday, they did so today. We were so privileged before we left the gym to hear the team's beautiful singing voices as they serenaded Rosie with Happy Birthday. I feel its safe to say that the girls dont have any record deals in their future.

VOTE FOR VAL

Ok, Dons fans, listen up. We need your help. The WCC will be featuring a 25-member 25th Anniversary team this year to honor the 25th Anniversary of Women's Athletics. The first 24 members of the team have been voted on, and selected, by a panel consisting of Senior Woman's Administrators from each WCC campus, conference staff, and select media. The 25th spot will be selected by fans via an online poll on WCCsports.com from December 8-20, 2009.

USF's nominee is former basketball standout, Valerie Gillon.

Gillion, a 2003 inductee into the San Francisco Hall of Fame and Legend of the Hilltop, was a 6-2 center for the Dons from 1993-96. The native of Belgium was a two-time MVP West Coast Conference Tournament MVP (1995, 1996), a two-time team MVP (1995, 1996) and was also selected as the WCC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1996. Already elected one of the top-50 athletes in West Coast Conference history, Gillon continues to rank in the San Francisco record books in six career categories and remains the USF career field goal percentage leader with a mark of .554.

VALERIE GILLON USF CAREER STATS

For the entire USF release, click here. To view the WCC release and vote, click here.

Aloha Dons Fans. The team and staff returned from Hawai'i last night and were welcomed back to San Francisco by cold, wet weather. I swear we tried to bring the sun and warmth back with us, but apparently we failed at that task. All in all, the trip was enjoyable. It was my first time traveling with this team this season and it was apparent, from the get-go, that this team has quite the personality.

The team had sometime on the trip to enjoy some of the sights and culture of the Island. Our first hotel was located right on Waikiki. Great location and during our afternoon free on Tuesday, the girls could be seen logging some considerable beach and surf time. Our second hotel was located on the North Shore, Turtle Bay Resort. Turtle Bay was featured in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was a BEAUTIFUL location, and all of our rooms had views of the ocean. Each morning you could walk out on to the balcony and just take in the scenery. In fact, assistant coach Abby Conklin and I slept with the sliding glass door open each night, sleeping to the sound of the waves. Speaking of waves, the swells on the North Shore this week were HUGE, record breaking.

Anyway, back to basketball. Thursday night, USF fell to Hawai'i in Manoa. The next morning, we all awoke to a picture of Donnisha Taylor on the front page of the Honolulu Advertiser sports page! The photo, just not as large, can be found by clicking here. A full photo gallery of the game can be found here.

Saturday evening we were gratious enough to be guests at a BBQ thrown by Tawny Drexler's family, who traveled to Hawai'i and rented a beach house for the week. The food was delicious and it was nice to have a home cooked meal on the road.

While in Manoa Valley, the Dons were able to catch up with former USF volleyball coach Dan Fisher, who is currently the associate head coach for men's volleyball for the Warriors. Dan left the Hilltop over the summer to take his new position at Hawai'i and was gratious enough to give athletic trainer, Rosie, and I a tour of campus while we were there. I was amazed by the food options...most of which came from taco truck like stands. It was interesting to say the least.

In addition to our Hawai'i updates, here are some links to check out.

• The preseason pick for the WCC Title is Gonzaga. ESPN's Graham Hays did a feature on the Zags' point guard, Courtney Vandersloot. Read the story here.

• Along those same lines, Gonzaga has been ranked as the No. 2 Mid-major

• Finally, a nice little holiday greeting from the Conference office...

This season after a handful of road games, the Dons have been some lovely ice baths. Lucky for me, trainer Rosie Cheng provided me with this photo from Lubbock, site of the 2009 Basketball Travelers Tip-Off Tournament. From the look of Donnisha Taylor and Mel Khlok's faces, it looks like its a nice cool refreshing post-game activity. 

• The West Coast Conference is going to begin to unveil the WCC's 25th Annviersary Women's Team soon in celebration of 25 Years of Women's Athletics Excellence. Women's Athletics were originally sponosore by the league in the 1985-86 season and this year, the conference office is doing a season long campaign to celebrate the benchmark.

• Once agan this season, the Dons wil participate in the Pack the House Challenge, a national NCAA sponsored initiative to increase attendance at women's basketball games. This year the Dons' Pack The House Game will be December 22 as USF hosts Tennessee.

I apologize for the lag of posting a new blog with fall and winter sports underway, things got a little hectic on the Hilltop. I finally found time to sit down and blog - on the bus going to San Jose.

There's a couple links I want to share.

• First, assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Molly Marrin was featured in a newspaper article in her hometown of Dallas. Molly has been all over the place since graduating from Regis, which is the main focus of the article. Check out it here.

• The Dons announced the signing of two future Dons to NLI's last week, Savannah Erskine and Alexa Hardick. The pair will join the USF family in the fall of the 2009 season. The release I sent out about the duo can be found here,

• WCCTV posted is 2009 Women's Basketball Preview, it features mostly Gonzaga, who is the preseason favorite, but its worth checking out. 

Ok, the battery is dying on the laptop. I will post more tomorrow. With the College Football rivalaries heating up, I have a good ol' story and fun photos for everyone...

As promised, I just posted a release about some community service activities that the USF women's basketball team has been involved in recently. The Dons participated in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk and also took time out of a Sunday to volunteer at the St. Anthony's Soup Kitchen. To reflect on the experiences, juniors Tawny Drexler and Donnisha Taylor provided www.USFDons.com with blogs about the team outings. The blogs can be read by clicking here or here.

• Preseason Polls for the 2009-10 season have been released and Tennessee, who the Dons host December 22 at War Memorial Gym, are ranked eighth in the AP Poll and ninth in the Coaches Poll. Other opponents gaining attention include Gonzaga, who is receiving votes in each poll. This season, Coach Haave is the West Coast Conference representative in the Coaches Poll voting panel. To see both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll in its entirety, click here.

• Last week, Sophomore Rheina Ale and head coach Haave were featured on the weekly WCC Live Radio Show (Episode 4). You can listen to the archives of the show, by visiting the WCC Live Website. The show is a good way to keep track of all the happenings in all West Coast Conference sponsored sports.

• Along those same lines, Coach Haave will be participating in tomorrow's "This Week In Dons Basketball" with Pat Olson. Make sure to check out the broadcast on KSUF.

• Finally, be sure to keep in mind that next week tickets for the 2010 West Coast Conference Basketball Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas go on sale next week. Tickets can be purchased through the Conference office online at the Tournament Central website. Last year's tournament was a hit with fans, and from my experience as a fan and staff member, is a great chance to see good basketball at a fun destination. I would surely recommended going to anyone who is considering it.

Happy Monday! There is a lot going on this week on the Hilltop. The Dons are getting ready for the up-coming season and next week's exhibition games.

Saturday, USF hosted the 25th annual O'Brien Scrimmage, the photo below is from the team's introduction. The women played a 20-minute (two 10-minute halfs), and showed some signs of this to come this season. The Green team defeated the Gold 34-20, but it was a pair of returners and a slew of newcomers that shined in the event. You can read the entire story about both the women's and men's scrimmages here.  There is also a photo gallery of the event.

Other notes of mention, the WCC released the preseason poll last week, the Dons were picked to finish tied for seventh. The Dons are giving back to the community and have been doing quite a bit of community service recently. Last week they participated in the Breast Cancer Awareness walk at Golden Gate Park and yesterday, the Dons went to St. Anthony's and helped in the soup kitchen. More information, including insight from members of the team, will be released tomorrow

Welcome to the first installment of the 2009-10 Hilltop Hoop Scoop! This blog will provide a new insight into the USF Women's basketball team throughout the upcoming season.

For those of you that followed us during our trip to Scandinavia this past summer, the blog will be similar to that coverage. I, Rachel - the Sports Information contact for the women's basketball team, will update the blog periodically during the preseason and multiple times a week during the regular season. I plan on focusing on some of the off-court happenings of the program - things that the weekly game notes wouldn't necessarily include. In addition, "Hilltop Hoop Scoop" will feature blogs, from time-to-time, written by members of the team and coaching staff.

I hope you enjoy this new addition to the coverage of the women's basketball program. I will try my best to make it informative, yet entertaining.

To hold you over until the next entry, check out some of the following:

• A while back the program debuted the 2009 USF Fan Draft. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's definitely worth it. Make sure you have your phone near you, and don't worry; it doesn't store your information. Click here to check it out.

• Last week, the Dons opened practice for the up-coming season and participated in the Midnight Madness event at War Memorial Gym. Photos from the practice and student-sponsored annual event can be viewed here. The women's team did a fun dance to kick the night off and I hope to have video of it soon. Once I do, I will make sure to post it.

• Finally don't forget to mark your calendars, December 22 is a HUGE day on the Hilltop...USF will welcome Tennessee to War Memorial Gym for the first time in program history. The game is the return of a home-and-home series that was started with the Lady Vols last season, when the Dons opened the 2008-09 campaign in Knoxville. Be sure to get your tickets and come out and support the Dons in one of the biggest home contests in program history.

Until next time, Go Dons.