March 18, 2008
Complete Women's Basketball Release in PDF Format 
IN A NUTSHELL: The University of San Diego women's basketball team (19-12) will open play in the NCAA Tournament this Saturday as the No 14 seed and they will take on the third-seeded California Bears. Tip-off is set for approximately 1:30 p.m., as they will top-off 30 minutes after the conclusion of the George Washington and Auburn game, which starts at 11 a.m.
LAST TIME OUT: For the first time in eight years, the University of San Diego women's basketball team will be going dancing in the NCAA Tournament, as the Toreros defeated top-seeded Gonzaga University, 70-66, in the championship game of the West Coast Conference championship Sunday afternoon. Morgan Henderson paced the USD offense as she scored a team-high 20 points on an impressive 6-for-8 performance from beyond the arc. Four other USD players were in double figures as Kiva Herman scored 16 points, Amber Sprague added in 14 and both Amanda Rego and Sam Child added in 10 points apiece, with Rego dishing out a game-high 12 assists and pulled down seven boards. As a team, USD shot 46 percent from the field and were out rebounded 36-31. In the early going it was a sea saw battle with both teams taking their turn with the lead. With 17:09 left in the first half, Gonzaga held a 6-5 lead, but a Herman lay-up ignited a 22-4 San Diego run to give the Toreros their biggest lead of the game at 27-10 with 11:06 remaining in the first half. During the run, five different USD players scored a bucket with Henderson hitting three 3-pointers for nine of the 27 San Diego points. Gonzaga then began to slowly chip away at the Toreros lead and were able to pull back to within nine points at 38-29 going into the break. In the second frame, the Bulldogs got back on track and were hitting on all cylinders, as they went on a 16-9 run to pull to within two of the Toreros at 47-45 on a Tiffanie Shives three-pointer with just 13:10 remaining in the game. San Diego then responded with a 5-1 run sparked by a Herman jumper and capped on a Henderson three-pointer to give USD some breathing room at 52-46 with 10:08 to go. The Bulldogs were relentless though, as they refused to go away, getting to within two on several occasions and got as close as one point on a Michelle Elliott three-pointer to move the score to 60-59 with 4:29 to go. A sea saw battle then encored with the Zags not allowing USD to get to far ahead, but with the score at 62-61, San Diego then began to show its championship composure. Herman hit a pair of free throws with 1:57 to go to give USD back a three point lead at 64-61, then Herman hit a jumper in the paint to push the lead to five at 66-61, and San Diego never looked back as they held on to claim the win.
SCOUTING THE BEARS: California enters the game with a 26-6 overall record, which is the most single-season wins in program history. The Bears reached the championship game of the Pac-10 Tournament, but fell to Stanford 56-35. This will be the first meeting between the two schools in the sport of women's basketball. Cal, who finished second in the Pac-10 Conference, is led by the junior post tandem of Ashley Walker (15.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg) and Devanei Hampton (13.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg). Both athletes earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors, and junior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson (11.7 ppg, 39.8 3FG%) earned a spot on the All-Pac-10 second team. The Bears are under the direction of third-year head coach Joanne Boyle. During her time in Berkeley, Boyle has posted an overall record of 67-27.
TOREROS ON THE AIR: All of the women's basketball games in the NCAA Tournament will have a live audio broadcast on usdtoreros.com. All the live exciting play-by-play action will be brought to you by former Torero great Paula Bott and providing color commentary will be USD's All-Time leading scorer, Susie Erpelding.
TOREROS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: San Diego has made the NCAA Tournament on two prior occasions posting a 0-2 record in those games. In 1993 USD lost to Nebraska 81-58 and in 2000 the Toreros were defeated 87-61 by Notre Dame. In those two appearances the Toreros shot 42 percent from the field (44-106) and were out rebounded 83-51.
ITS RAINING THREE'S: In the WCC Championship game, the Toreros hit a season-high eight three pointers. A team this season who doesn't usually shoot the three, let them fly in the championship game, including going a perfect 7-for-7 in the first half. Morgan Henderson was the catalyst for this spark as she went 6-for-8 from beyond the arc. This wasn't her career-high in three pointers however, as the Leawood, Kan. native hit eight three pointers in a win against Portland on Feb. 8, 2007.
KIVA HAS ANOTHER BIG NIGHT: Junior forward Kiva Herman came through for the Toreros in a huge way in the WCC Tournament. In USD's semi-final game against Santa Clara, Herman led the team in scoring with her team-best 23 point performance. This was Herman's third 20-point performance of her career and season. Herman is now averaging 12.7 ppg, second best on the team.
THREE TOREROS EARN ALL-WCC TOURNAMENT HONORS: Senior guard Amanda Rego, junior center Amber Sprague and junior forward Kiva Herman were all named to the All-Tournament team with Rego taking home Tournament MVP honors. During the tournament, Herman led the team with a 16.3 points per game average, Sprague averaged 12.7 points per game to go along with a team-best 7.7 rebounds per game and Rego averaged 9.7 assists per game to go along with a 9.0 points per game average in leading USD to the tournament championship.
ABOUT THE RECORD: San Diego's 19-12 overall record is the second best record in program history, only trailing last season's 21-9 overall mark. This also marks the first back-to-back winning seasons since the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons, and it is also only the third time in the history of the program that USD has posted back-to-back winning seasons. USD also finished the conference portion of the season with a 7-7 record, this after beginning 0-5 in WCC play. San Diego finished in a tie for third with Loyola Marymount and took the No. 3 seed into the WCC Tournament by virtue of sweeping LMU in the regular season.
THREE TOREROS EARN ALL-WCC ACCOLADES: The University of San Diego women's basketball team had three players named to the All-West Coast Conference teams. Senior guard Amanda Rego and junior center Amber Sprague took home first-team All-WCC honors for the second consecutive year and freshman guard Sam Child was named to the All-Freshman team. Rego averaged 10.4 points per game and 8.1 assists per game in league action, as she was named the WCC Player of the Week twice during the season. Sprague, a 6-5 junior from San Diego, also put together an impressive season as she averaged a double-double in conference action with a 14.3 points-per-game average to go along with a 10.2 rebounds-per-game average. Child, a 6-1 freshman from Portland, Ore., bursted onto the scene in her first collegiate season and cracked into the starting line-up in just the second game of the year and hasn't left. Child averaged an impressive 11.8 points per game as a freshman in WCC action. Child was named the WCC Player of the Week once this season and she scored a career-high 27 points in a win against Loyola Marymount on Jan. 31, 2008.
SPRAGUE REACHES A MILESTONE: Junior center Amber Sprague became just this 10th player in the history of the program to surpass the 1,000 career-point total with her 17 points against San Francisco on Jan 12. She also has become just the third player to reach 1,000 points in three seasons joining the all-time leading scorer Susie Erpelding (1,510 points) and Debbie Theroux (1,015 points).
REGO AND THE TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Senior point guard Amanda Rego recorded her second career triple-double in a win over the University of San Francisco on Feb. 9, as she scored 10 points, had 10 assists and recorded 10 steals. This marks the programs second triple-double, as Rego recorded the programs's first triple-double back on Nov. 16 against Toledo as she recorded 11 points, 13 rebounds and had 10 assists.
TOREROS TABBED AS THE WCC PRESEASON FAVORITE: San Diego was chosen as the favorite to claim the West Coast Conference women's basketball title, edging out defending conference champion Gonzaga in the 2007-08 WCC preseason coaches poll. The Toreros, who set a program record with 21 wins and hosted a WNIT contest for the first time last season, received four first place votes and totaled 58 overall points, while the Bulldogs garnered three first place votes, and received 55 total points to finish second in the annual coaches poll. Gonzaga, who is coming off their first NCAA Tournament appearance was picked to finish second. Pepperdine came in third in the voting followed by Loyola Marymount at fourth. Saint Mary's was picked to finish fifth and San Francisco sixth. Santa Clara (seventh) and Portland (eighth) round out the preseason coaches poll.
FISHER REACHES 100: Head Coach Cindy Fisher picked up her 100th career victory in a win over Pepperdine on Feb. 2. Fisher has spent time as a head coach at the University of Wyoming and is currently in her third year as a head coach at San Diego. For her career, she now has a 101-119 overall record.
THE STREAK CONTINUES: With 22 more double digit scoring performances under her belt this season, junior center Amber Sprague extended her scoring streak to 79 consecutive games. In fact, Sprague has scored a minimum of four points in every game she has played in a Torero uniform. The San Diego, Calif., native has 59 career double-digit scoring performances in 79 games and after a season-high 30-point performance against both UCLA and Portland, a 28-point outburst against UC Irvine, and a 20-point outing against Portland she now has 17 career 20-point or more outings. Sprague has scored 1,237 points during her current streak, averaging 14.9 ppg, and shooting .463 (494-for-1,068) from the floor and .854 (276-for-323) from the free throw line.
MEET THE COACH: Head coach Cindy Fisher is entering her third season at the helm of the Toreros program. She was named the program's third head coach on April 19, 2005 after taking over for Kathy Marpe, who stepped down after directing the program for 25 years in 2005. 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. Rego and Amber Sprague both took home first-team All-WCC honors and Morgan Henderson was named to the All-WCC Freshman team. For her efforts, Fisher was named the 2007 WCC Co-Coach of the Year. At Wyoming, Fisher's Cowgirl teams showed improvement in each of her five seasons, culminating with an 18-12 mark during the 2002-03 season. The 18 wins were the school's most victories since 1989-90. She also led the Cowgirls to their first postseason appearance since 1989-90 with a trip to the 2003 WNIT, where Wyoming notched a first-round win over Montana before falling in the second round.
THREE TOREROS OUT FOR THE SEASON: Junior guard Kelly Winther, sophomore forward Sara VanderHorst and redshirt freshman guard Hannah Morgenstern are all out for the season. Winther and VanderHorst will take a redshirt year. Winther had the second highest points-per-game average for the Toreros a year ago with 10.9 and she led the team in three-point shooting with a team-best 37 three-pointers made. VanderHorst saw limited action in 2006-07 as she scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in 16 games.
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