Feb. 27, 2006
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WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The University of San Diego women's basketball team (9-18, 4-10 WCC) will travel to the Pacific Northwest to compete in the West Coast Conference Tournament in Spokane, Wash., home of Gonzaga University. USD will kick off the tournament with the first game on Thursday at noon against No. 3 seed Loyola Marymount University. Should the Toreros win the game and advance to the second round of the tournament, USD will face the winner between No. 4 seed Pepperdine University and No. 5 seed Saint Mary's College on Friday in a game scheduled to begin at noon.
LAST TIME OUT: The University of San Diego Toreros split their final two games of the 2005-06 regular-season this past week, dropping a heartbreaking loss to Gonzaga on Thursday, 58-51, and closing out the season in style on Sunday with a 71-60 win against the University of Portland. On Thursday, the Bulldogs and Toreros were playing a seesaw game with each team exchanging the lead nine times in the first half before ending the period knotted at 29. In the second half, the Toreros were again able keep pace with GU through majority of the period and the Toreros were able to regain the lead late in the period on a pair of Sabine Loewe free throws giving USD a 51-49 advantage. Gonzaga would close the game on a 9-0 run doing most of the damage from the charity stripe as USD was forced to foul with under a minute to play. USD was able to bounce back from that loss and avenge a loss to Portland from earlier in the season. The Toreros got control of the ball game almost immediately from the start of the game, as they used a 14-2 run over a four minute period to gain all the momentum in the first half. USD would push their lead to as much as 12 midways through the period, but Portland would close the gap to nine going into the intermission. In the second half, it was a back and forth game with Portland coming to within four with 11:14 remaining, but USD would then explode on a 9-0 run to again gain control of the game. USD would continue to push forward increasing the lead to as much as 15 with 6:39 remaining, and the Toreros would not look back. Senior guard Tiara Harris scored a career-high 28 points in her final game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: Loyola Marymount University enters the West Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed after suffering a loss to Saint Mary's College in the regular-season finale on their home court this past Saturday. LMU's record entering the tournament is 16-11 overall and 10-4 in the WCC. LMU was the preseason favorite to win the conference crown according to the preseason's coaches poll. USD holds a 26-20 all-time record against the Lions. However, LMU has posted a 2-1 record against USD in the WCC Tournament with the last meeting a 68-49 LMU win in last season's WCC Tournament. LMU is led offensively by a pair of 10 point scorers in junior forward Ashlee Dunlap (10.6 ppg) and junior guard Amanda Patton (10.6 ppg). The Lions are under the direction of 11th-year head coach Julie Wihoit. During her tenure, Wihoit has posted a 146-64 record including leading LMU to the NCAA postseason in 2004.
MEET THE COACH: Coach Cindy Fisher was named the program's head coach on April 19th, 2005, taking over for Kathy Marpe who stepped down last March after directing the program for 25 years. Fisher, Nebraska's top assistant the past two years and head coach for Wyoming between 1998-2003, becomes USD's third head coach dating back to the program's inception in 1978-79. Fisher helped lead Nebraska to back-to-back appearances in the WNIT during her two seasons with the Huskers. This past season the team finished 18-14 overall. 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 2nd round.
HARRIS HAS ANOTHER BIG NIGHT: Senior guard Tiara Harris concluded her career at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in stylish fashion registering a career-high 28 points against Portland this past weekend. Harris is now averaging a team-leading 14.2 points, good for third in the WCC. Harris is now fifth all-time in USD career-points with 1,118 and is third all-time in career-three point field goals made with 135.
TOREROS HAVE TWO EARN ALL-WCC HONORS: The University of San Diego women's basketball team had two players earn All-West Coast Conference accolades, it was announced Monday. Senior Guard Tiara Harris was selected first-team All-WCC and freshman guard Kelly Winther was selected to the ALL-WCC Freshman team. Harris averaged a team-leading 14.2 points this season, including a 17 points per game average in WCC play, good for third in the WCC. Harris has become the ninth player in the history of the program to eclipse the 1,000 point barrier and has moved into fifth all-time in USD career-points with 1,118 and is third all-time in career-three point field goals made with 135. Harris capped her career in the Jenny Craig Pavilion pouring in a career-high 28 points against Portland in the regular-season finale. Winther, a freshman from Simi Valley, Calif., was the team's second leading scorer with a 9.2 point per game average. Winther set a career-high 17 points on two different occasions, once against Montana State University on Dec. 28, and the other against Santa Clara University on Jan. 28. Winther finished the season scoring in double digits in six of the final eight games, averaging 11.9 points per game during that stretch.
TOREROS IN POSTSEASON PLAY: The University of San Diego women's basketball team has posted a 5-6 all-time record in the West Coast Conference Tournament, including winning the tournament in the 1999-2000 season and advancing on to the NCAA Tournament.
2006 GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE: All San Diego women's basketball WCC Tournament 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. All San Diego home games and selected 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.
