Nov. 27, 2009

Complete Women's Basketball Release in PDF Format

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The University of San Diego women's basketball team (3-3) will conclude its busy week of three games in six days on Sunday as they host UC Santa Barbara in a 7 p.m. non-conference game at USD's Jenny Craig Pavilion.

LAST TIME OUT: Despite a 19 point, eight rebound performance from junior guard Sam Child, the University of San Diego women's basketball team (3-3) fell 65-55 to the University of Arizona Wildcats (4-1) Friday evening in a non-conference contest at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. For the game, four Toreros reached double-digits, with sophomore guard Dominique Conners chipping in 14 points, while sophomore forward Emily Hatch had 10 points and senior forward Morgan Henderson recorded her second consecutive double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. San Diego was victim to the stingy defensive attack of the Wildcats, as the Toreros were held to 34% (20-59) shooting from the floor, but USD out rebounded the Wildcats 39-35.

A LOOK AHEAD: USD will conclude its four-game home-stand next Thursday when they host UNLV in a 7 p.m. non-conference game at USD's Jenny Craig Pavilion. San Diego will then hit the road for the first of three straight road games against Cal Poly on Saturday at 2 p.m. inside of Mott Gym.

GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE: All San Diego women's basketball home games can be followed via Gametracker on the Toreros athletic web site at www.usdtoreros.com. Gametracker is a service of Online College Sports, the official web provider for San Diego athletics, and is a real time update of the action. Selected San Diego road games are also available via Gametracker. To see if Gametracker is available for a game, go to San Diego Events at the top-right of the home page. If Gametracker is available there will be a Gametracker link.

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara enters the game with an overall record of 0-4 after dropping a 68-54 decision to Kentucky this past Wednesday. The Gauchos lead the all-time series at 13-4. Santa Barbara is led offensively by junior forward Mekia Valentine, who has a team-leading 16.7 ppg, and pulls down 8.3 boards per game. The only other UCSB player averaging double figures is Emilie Johnson, who has a 11.8 ppg average to go along with a 4.8 rebounds per game average. The Gauchos are under the direction of second-year head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. During her time in Santa Barbara, Gottlieb has posted an overall record of 22-14.

DOUBLE THE PLEASURE: Senior forward Morgan Henderson has posted back-to-back double-doubles this week, recording 15 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Cal State Northridge, then followed that up with a 10 point and season-high 11 rebound performance in the loss to UC Santa Barbara. On the season, Henderson is averaging 10.2 ppg, and leads the team in rebounding at 6.7 boards per contest.

SWEET CHILD O'MINE: Junior guard Sam Child had her best offensive production of the young season in the loss to Arizona this pat Friday, as she recorded a season-high 19 points on 8-for16 shooting form the field, and she recorded a season-high eight rebounds. Child is the team's third leading scorer with her 12.3 ppg average, and she is second on the team with seven 3-pointers made.

CONNERS HAS SOLID WEEK: Sophomore guard Dominique Conners had a solid week for the Toreros offensively last week , as she led the team with 41 points, on 16-for-30 (.533) shooting from the field. Conners began the week with a season-high 16-point outburst against San Diego State then followed that up with a 13 point total in the win against Tennessee State on Friday before capping the week with a 12-point performance in the loss to No. 17 DePaul. On the season, Conners is the team's second leading scorer with a 12.8 ppg average.

AND THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE BIG WEST...: San Diego might want to think about applying for some sort of membership in the Big West Conference in 2009-10 as the Toreros are scheduled to face five of the Big West's nine league members in non-conference play. San Diego will play every Big West school but UC Davis, Pacific, UC Riverside and UC Irvine. USD has already defeated Cal State Northridge, 90-54 last week, and this Sunday they will take on UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. The Toreros will then travel to Cal Poly next Saturday to make it three Big West opponents in three straight weeks.

A PAIR OF TOREROS EARN ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS: San Diego placed both Dominique Conners and Emily Hatch on the All-Tournament team of the Maggie Dixon Classic this past week. Conners scored 25 points, while Hatch had a team-leading 31 points for the tournament including a 19-point performance against Tennessee State. On the season, Hatch leads the team with a 13.0 ppg average, while Conners averaged 12.8 ppg.

WOODY'S WORLD: In Tuesday's 90-54 win over Cal State Northridge, sophomore guard Morgan "Woody" Woodrow scored a career-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 from three-point range, and 4-of-4 from the free charity stripe. This surpasses Woodrow's previous career-high of 10, that she set on Dec. 30, 2008 in the championship game of the Maggie Dixon Surf N Slam Classic against Long Island University.

CONNERS NAMED TO ALL-WCC PRESEASON TEAM: Dominique Conners was the lone Torero selected to the preseason All-WCC team. Last season, Conners had a solid rookie season as USD's starting point guard. Conners started off slow, but once December hit she found her stride. For the season, she was USD's third leading scorer with a 10.2 ppg. average. She scored a career-high 20 points in a win against Portland on March 8 in the WCC semi-final game, and over the final seven games of the regular-season, she scored in double figures in all of them and averaged 13.9 ppg during this stretch. She then helped lead USD into the championship game of the WCC Tournament and was the only freshman selected to the All-WCC Tournament team.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: 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. Once on the home page, click the LIVE button on the top right of the page. Two former USD basketball standouts Paula Bott (play-by-play) and Susie (Erpelding) Barosso (color) will bring you all the action. The pair not only set USD records on the court but both earned the West Coast Conference Female Scholar Athlete of the Year award, the only two student-athletes in USD women's basketball history to receive such honors. This service a free of charge for all who wish to watch the broadcast.

WCC CHAMPIONSHIPS RETURN TO VEGAS: The West Coast Conference will return to Las Vegas in 2010 for the Zappos.com WCC Basketball Championships on March 5-8 at Orleans Arena. Tickets for the event will go on sale to the public on Friday, November 13. The West Coast Conference made a successful debut in Las Vegas last year when it sold out the Orleans Arena for the 2009 WCC Basketball Championships. The 2009 championship, which was the WCC's first-ever at a neutral site, set conference records for both total championship attendance (33,320) and single session championship attendance (7,845). In conjunction with the success, the WCC made two major announcements relating to the basketball championships in the off-season. The WCC first signed a three-year extension with the Orleans Arena to keep the event in Las Vegas through 2012. The West Coast Conference (WCC) and its multi-media rights partner, IMG College, later announced Zappos.com as the official title sponsor of the WCC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. The three-year deal, effective through the 2011-12 season, marks the WCC's first-ever title sponsorship.

MEET THE COACH: Head coach Cindy Fisher is entering her fifth 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 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 SIXTH IN WCC PRESEASON POLL: The USD women's basketball team was picked to finish sixth by the WCC head coaches in the WCC preseason coaches poll. The Toreros, who won three games in three days at the WCC Tournament last year to reach the title game, received 22 points. Gonzaga was chosen as the favorite to claim the WCC women's basketball title for the second straight year in the 2009-10 preseason coaches poll. The Bulldogs, who received the maximum seven first place votes for a total of 49 points, won the WCC Tournament and earned their second-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament. As a 12th seed, Gonzaga upset No. 5 seeded Xavier in the first round, 74-59, before nearly accomplishing the same feat against No. 4 seeded Pittsburgh, losing 65-60. Loyola Marymount received the remaining first place vote and totaled 39 points to come in second in the voting. Pepperdine was tabbed third with 34 points, Portland was fourth with 61 points, Saint Mary's checked in at No. 5 with 29 votes, while both Santa Clara and San Francisco tied for seventh with 10 points a piece.