Nov. 27, 2008

Game Notes in PDF Format

THIS WEEK: This week USF will host the sixth annual odwalla Classic at War Memorial Gym. The three-day event will feature the Dons, Northern Colorado and Washington State. Action gets underway Friday with a 7 p.m. tip between the Bears and Cougars. Saturday, USF will face UNC at 7 p.m., while Sunday the tournament will wrap-up with a 2 p.m. tip with WSU. Tickets for the tournament are available by calling (415) 422-2USF.

LAST TIME OUT: The Dons dropped a 56-49 decision to UC Davis Tuesday at The Pavilion in Davis, Calif. USF dropped 11 3-pointers in the game, falling one short of a school record of 12. Danesha Wright and Shay Rollins led the Dons with five treys each, while freshman Rheina Ale drained one. Wright led all scorers with 19 total points, while posting a team-high six rebounds. Rollins scored 15 points, all on threes, while dishing out a pair of assists and three steals.

LOOKING AHEAD: Following the Odwalla Classic, San Francisco will host Oregon State at War Memorial Gym on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. USF will then take the road, traveling to Cal Poly before returning to the Hilltop for their final game before the holidays, a tilt with Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 10.

ODWALLA CLASSIC: This year marks the sixth annual Odwalla Classic hosted by USF. In five years of the tournament, the Dons have advanced to the Championship game all five times, but have posted a 1-4 record in the game. No team has captured more than one odwalla Classic Championships. San Francisco won the first odwalla Classic in 2003 thanks to a 67-59 win over Kentucky. In 2004, the Dons fell 82-65 to Oakland, before dropping the championship game in 2005 to then-No. 22 Oklahoma 53-51. Delware took the odwalla Classic title in 2006 thanks to a 71-47 win over USF, while last season the Dons fell 73-70 in overtime to champion Villanova.

SIMMONS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-WCC: Senior center Necolia Simmons has been selected as a preseason All-West Coast Conference selection by a vote of the league's head coaches. Simmons, the Dons' starting center, earned WCC Honorable Mention accolades last season after posting a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game. She returns for her senior campaign as USF's second leading scorer from a year ago, when she averaged 11.0 points per game. 

DONS POST LARGEST WIN MARGIN SINCE 2005: Thanks to a 30-point (80-50) victory over Academy of Art last week, the Dons posted their largest win margin since the 2005-06 season, when San Francisco defeated Rider by 36 points (80-44, 11/25/05) as part of the Odwalla Classic. A year ago, the largest victory margin for USF was a 23-point, 74-51, victory over San Jose State. The school record for victory margin is 76 points, thanks to a 98-22 victory over Stanislaus on Nov. 27, 1978.

THE COUNTDOWN TO 1,000: Senior guard Shay Rollins enters the second game of the season on pace to become the 17th member of USF history to record 1,000 or more career points. During her three-years on the Hilltop, Rollins has amassed 934 career points, leaving her 66 points shy of the 1,000 mark. Mary Hille (1977-81), a member of the USF Athletics Hall of Fame and a "Legend of the Hilltop", holds the Dons' record for career points with 2,324. Through the first two games of the season, Rollins has posted 70 total points to lead the Dons with 17.5 points per game.

ALE, SINGLETERRY EARN STARTING NODS: Freshmen Rheina Ale and Vania Singleterry have started both contests for USF this season. Ale, a guard from Carson, Calif., leads all San Francisco rookies with 7.3 points per game and 4.5 rebounds a game. In the season opener, Ale scored just two points before erupting for a game-high 18 points Last week against Academy of Art. Singleterry has posted 16 rebounds in four contests, averaging 4.0 points per game. Ale and Singleterry are the first freshmen to earn starting nods for the Dons since Shay Rollins started 21 contests during the 2005-06 season. The last time USF had two freshmen starting on a regular basis was the 2001-02 season, when Toni Russell and Leeane Jenson started half or more of the Dons' 30 games.

ROLLINS RETURNS TO PACE OFFENSE: Senior guard Shay Rollins entered the 2008-09 campaign as the Dons top scorer from a season ago. As a junior, Rollins averaged 12.7 points per game thanks to double-digit scoring in 21 contests. Last season, Rollins ranked second in the WCC in three pointers with 75, shooting at a .379 clip from beyond the arc, while also ranking 11th in assists with 86. The native of Alameda, Calif. is a two-time West Coast Conference honoree, being named to the All-Freshman Team in 2005-06 and earned honorable mention accolades as a sophomore. This season, Rollins continues to head up the offense, leading USF with 17.5 ppg, nine assists (2.3 apg) and ten steals (2.5 spg).

WRIGHT MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT: Junior transfer Danesha Wright has made an immediate impact to the Dons this season. The guard has started all three games, averaging 14.3 points, going 18-42 (.429) from the field and a team-high 11-for-14 (.786) from the free throw line. Tuesday, against UC Davis, Wright led all scorers with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Prior to joining San Francisco, Wright played at Ohlone College. At Ohlone, Wright was named the Coast Conference MVP in 2007-08 and was awarded First Team All-State accolades. Prior to playing collegiate basketball, both Dons were members of the Berkeley High School varsity basketball team.

FIVE FRESHMEN JOIN DONS: The University of San Francisco welcomes five freshmen to this season's roster; all from the State of California. Rheina Ale, a 5-8 guard, joins the Dons from Bishop Montgomery High in Carson where she was a three-time Del-Rey League honoree, including being named the MVP as a senior. Hailing from Santa Rosa, Heidi Anton, a 5-9 guard, comes to the Hilltop after averaging 16.3 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds at Elsie Allen High. Kim Crandall, a 6-0 forward/center, joins the Dons from Liberty Christian in Redding, where she was a three-time All-North State and two-time All-State basketball selection. Katy Keating, a 6-0 forward from Santa Monica, comes to USF after leading Santa Monica High to four straight league championships, while Vania Singleterry, a 5-11 forward/center from Murrieta, was a four-time All-Southwestern League and All-Valley honoree at Vista Murrieta HS. Four freshmen have seen playing time in all three games this season, with Ale and Singleterry earning starting nods.

SIMMONS EARNS FIRST WCC NOD: As a junior last season, Necolia Simmons earned her first West Coast Conference accolade, being awarded the league's Honorable Mention honor. Simmons, a transfer from Joaquin Delta, earned honorable mention accolades after a stellar campaign on the Hilltop. The Deer Valley, Calif. Native posted 11.0 ppg, 87 assists and shot .704 (81-for-115) from the free throw line, while leading the Dons with 218 (7.3 pg) rebounds. Simmons posted four 20-plus scoring nights and five double-doubles for the season. At Eastern Washington, Simmons recorded her first double-double of the season and the sixth of her career with 14 points and 13 rebounds against the Eagles. Her 13 rebounds tied a career high.

ROLLINS ON PACE TO SET USF RECORD: Senior guard Shay Rollins enters the Odwalla Classic seven 3-pointers shy of recording the most career treys in USF history. Currently, Rollins holds second place in the career record books with 139 threes. Lindsey Huff (1997-2002) sits a top the record book with 146 3-pointers made. For her career, in 90 games played, Rollins shoots .303 (139/454) from beyond the arc, averaging 1.5 3-pointers a game.

DROPPING THREES: Prior to last season, head coach Tanya Haave challenged the Dons to improve on its shooting from beyond the arc. The Dons responded to the challenge. In 30 games, the 2007-08 squad hit 177 3-pointers to nearly double its total of 89 from the 2006-07 season. A year ago, USF led the West Coast Conference with a .362 mark from 3-point territory. Current senior Shay Rollins heads returnees for the Dons when to comes to 3-point shooting, hitting 75-of-198 for a .379 clip last season. In the opening three games this season, USF has shot at a .298 clip from beyond the arc, including a .393 rate Tuesday against UC Davis. Shay Rollins leads the Dons with 11 treys, while Danesha Wright has recorded 10, including nine in the past two games.

SAN FRANCISCO ADDS MARRIN, ADAMS TO USF COACHING STAFF: Two new faces will grace the sidelines of USF games this season, as the Dons have added Molly Marrin (Regis, 2003) and Venice Adams (Denver, 2006) to their coaching staff. Marrin was named assistant coach for the Dons have a year at North Dakota, where she served as the recruiting coordinator. Marrin was a four-year letterwinner at Regis, where she helped to lead the Rangers to two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. As a senior, she was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year and ranked among NCAA leaders in free throw and 3-point field goal percentages. Adams joins USF as the Director of Basketball Operations after playing for USF head coach Tanya Haave at Denver. With the Pioneers, Adams was a three-time Sunbelt Conference Honor Roll honoree, including being named to the All-Sunbelt third team in 2005-06. Following her collegiate career, Adams played professional overseas for two seasons.

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 13th 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.

WAR MEMORIAL GYM TURNS 50: Home of the USF Dons since 1958, War Memorial Gym celebrates it 50th anniversary this year. The facility has hosted a wide variety of events from concerts to political debates, from basketball games to boxing matches. "The House that Russell Built" has enjoyed a rich history. The facility served as one of the home arenas when the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA moved to the Bay Area and most recently, served as a host venue for the 2008 International Children's Games.