|
Battle for Second Place on Tap for Women's Hoops
Feb. 17, 2012
Complete Women's Basketball Release in PDF Format TIP-OFF: The University of San Diego women's basketball team (19-6, 10-3 WCC) will close out this three game road swing on Saturday as they travel to Provo, Utah to take on WCC newcomer and 23rd-ranked BYU in a battle for second place. This game will air live on BYUTV. LAST TIME OUT: Another balanced offensive output from the University of San Diego women's basketball team helped propel them to a 78-54 victory over Loyola Marymount University Thursday evening in a West Coast Conference game at Gersten Pavilion. Amy Kame led the USD offense with 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, while recording six assists. Izzy Chilcott was the second of three Toreros in double figures as she had 12 points, pulled down five rebounds and dished out four assists. Dominique Conners was the final USD player in double figures, as she had 10 to run her consecutive double-digits streak to 16 games. All but two players who stepped on the floor tonight, scored at least two points. As a team, USD shot .548 from the field and out rebounded the Lions 31-27. TOREROS ON THE ROAD: The Toreros not only are a difficult team to beat at home, but they are not to shabby on the road either. Think about this...in road games, USD is 8-3 away from the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion...they are holding opponents to just 52.2 ppg...San Diego's defense is also holding the opponents to just 33% shooting from the field, while USD is shooting 42% from the floor. ..two Toreros are averaging double figures in road games paced by senior guard Dominique Conners' 16.4 ppg, followed by sophomore guard Amy Kame's 11.4 ppg... senior guard Morgan Woodrow is also productive on the road as she is averaging 10.0 ppg. ..as a team, USD is also out rebounding opponents on the road 454-380. SCOUTING THE COUGARS: BYU enters the game with an overall record of 22-5 and they have a 10-3 record in the WCC after suffering an upset loss to San Francisco this past Thursday. The Cougars and Toreros are tied for second place in the WCC. BYU leads the all-time series at 2-0, including winning the first meeting this season 62-53 in San Diego back on Jan. 14. The Cougars are led offensively by senior center Kristen Riley, who is scoring an average of 11.6 ppg, to go along with 7.5 rpg. Kim Parker (10.6) and Lexi Eaton (10.1) are the only other starters averaging double figures. TEAM COMPARISON TEAM PPG FG% 3-FG% FT% RPG TOPG SPG BPG BYU 71.9 .442 .342 .731 40.4 16.0 9.7 6.1 USD 67.8 .428 .331 .708 41.9 16.0 9.3 3.6LAST TIME VS. THE COUGARS: Three University of San Diego women's basketball players scored in double figures including a career-high 19 from sophomore guard Amy Kame, but it wasn't enough, as the Toreros dropped their first WCC game of the season in a 62-53 loss to WCC newcomer Brigham Young University on Jan. 14 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Kame scored her game-high 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field, while pulling down three rounds and recording one assist. Dominique Conners was the second USD player to score in double figures, as she had 12 on 4-of-12 shooting from the field. The final San Diego player to score in double figures was Morgan Woodrow who scored 11 on 3-of-16 shooting, while pulling down 10 rebounds to post a double-double. Felicia Wijenberg also had a good game as she scored nine points. As a team, USD shot .302 from the field, and out rebounded the Cougars 40-36. ABOUT THE RECORD: With the win over Loyola Marymount this past Thursday, San Diego has now recorded 19 wins on the season, which is the second most single-season wins in program history, they only trail the 2006-07 team for the most wins by two. The Toreros also have recorded 10 wins in WCC play, tying the program record for most WCC wins with the 2006-07 team, who went 10-4 and finished in second place. USD will look to become just the second team in program history to reach 20 wins, but they will have to win one of the last three games to get there. KNUTSON COMING ON STRONG: Sophomore forward Kameron Knutson has been playing really well as of late. Knutson recorded eight points and pulled down six boards in Thursday's win over LMU. Prior to that, she recorded a career-high 10 points in the win against Pepperdine. On the season, Knutson is averaging 3.0 ppg. CHASING HISTORY: Senior guard Dominique Conners scored 10 points against Pepperdine this past Saturday, which moved her career total to 1,633, good for second all-time at USD. Conners is aiming to reach the all-time leader in career points at USD, Amber Sprague, and is now only 95 points shy of that mark. Considering Conners is averaging 15.8 ppg this season, Conners could find herself passing Sprague by season's end. USD ON THE AIR WAVES: The game against BYU can be heard live on USDToreros.com, with Assistant Dir. of Athletics for Media Relations, Chris Loucks, bringing fans all the live play-by-play cation. There will be a LISTEN LIVE link on the women's basketball schedule page for all who wish to listen. CLOSING IN ON 1,000: Senior guard Morgan Woodrow in closing in on the 1,000 career points mark, as she currently is sitting at 953. Considering she is averaging 13.7 ppg, she should eclipse the mark by season's end. FINDING HER STRIDE: Sophomore guard Amy Kame has been rediscovering her stroke again, as she recorded a team-high 14 points in Thursday's win over Loyola Marymount. This marked the fifth time in the last six games, that Kame has scored in double figures. WHERE WE STAND: The Toreros are still now in a tie for second place with BYU after defeating LMU on Thursday and with BYU losing to USF. Both teams are just 1.5 games behind league leading Gonzaga. Saturday's game is for sole possession of second place. USD has already secured a one-roud bye in the WCC Tournament, and are fighting for more. If USD is able to secure one of the top two seeds, they will have a bye all the way to the semifinals. USD has never received a bye in the current format of the WCC Tournament since it began back in 2009. IZZY'S WORLD: USD's Austrailian sensation Izzy Chilcott had yet another outstanding performance on Thursday as she recorded 12 points, pulled down five rebounds and dished out four assists. This marked the third time in the last four games that Chilcott has scored in double figures. Chilcott is now averaging 7.2 ppg. HOW'S THIS FOR BALANCE: USD had one of the most balanced offensive attacks in Thursday's win over LMU, as all but two of the 13 players who stepped on the court scored at least two points. Amy Kame led the team with 14 points, while Izzy Chilcott had 12, Dominique Conners had 10...Kameron Knutson and Morgan Woodrow had eight points apiece, while Felicia Wijenberg and Klara Wischer both had six...Nicole Ballestero and Katie Kuklock had five each and Sophia and Sophie Ederaine both chipped in with two points. TOREROS SLAPPING ON THE D: San Diego's defense has been huge this season, as they currently lead the West Coast Conference in scoring defense, as they only allow 55.0 ppg. Against Santa Clara, USD held the normally potent SCU offense to 25 percent shooting from the field in the first meeting, then 31% in the second meeting...they also held Saint Mary's to just 31 percent shooting in the WCC opener...they held Loyola Marymount to 31 percent shooting.. held the defending WCC champion and 19th-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs to just 34 percent shooting from the field... and they held Pepperdine to 25% shooting in the first meeting, and just 31% in the second meeting. CONNERS EARNS PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS: Senior guard Dominique Conners was the lone Torero selected to the All-WCC preseason team. Conners was an All-WCC first-team honoree last season, after averaging a team-best 14.1 ppg, and she led the team with 64 steals. Conners scored in double figures in 23 games last season, with a season-high of 26 coming in the win against San Francisco on Jan. 15. TOREROS ON TV: The University of San Diego has already played in three televised games this season, and have posted a 2-1 record in those games. USD defeated cross-town rival San Diego State ,56-46, back on Dec. 8 at Viejas Arena, the Toreros posted a 72-66 win over Portland on Jan. 19 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion and they dropped a 69-58 decision to No. 19 Gonzaga on Feb. 4 in Spokane. USD has one more televised game as they will be on BYUTV when USD travels to Provo, Utah on Feb. 18. GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE: All San Diego women's basketball home and select road games can be followed live via Gametracker on the Toreros athletic web site at www.usdtoreros.com. Gametracker is a service of CBS College Sports, the official web provider for San Diego athletics, and is a real time update of the action. CAN YOU SEE ME?: All USD home games, as well as select road games, will be streamed live via video on the athletics department website. Fans can watch all the action live from the comfort of their home by logging onto usdtoreros.com. Former USD basketball standout Paula Bott provides all the live play-by-play this season. This service a free of charge for all who wish to watch the broadcast. MEET THE COACH: Head coach Cindy Fisher is entering her seventh season at the helm of the Toreros program. She was named the program's third head coach on April 19, 2005. In 2008, Fisher led USD to the WCC Tournament championship and back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight seasons. In only her second season at the helm of the program, Fisher orchestrated the biggest turn around in school history, a 12-game improvement from 9-19 in the 2005-06 season to a 21-9 record in 2006-07 season. The turn around was the fourth best in the nation. Under her tutelage, the Toreros placed three players on the All-WCC lists highlighted by Amanda Rego being named the WCC Co-Player of the Year. For her efforts, Fisher was named the 2007 WCC Co-Coach of the Year. TOREROS TABBED SEVENTH IN WCC PRESEASON POLL: The USD women's basketball team was picked to finish seventh by the WCC head coaches in the WCC preseason coaches poll. Gonzaga was the consensus favorite to claim the West Coast Conference women's basketball title for the third straight year, while WCC newcomer Brigham Young University was picked to finish second. Pepperdine was tabbed to finish in third, Loyola Marymount was picked fourth and Saint Mary's was fifth with a total of 34 total points. In sixth place was the Portland Pilots closely behind the Gaels with 32 total points, and USD was picked to finish seventh and Santa Clara was picked eighth respectfully.
|
