Jan. 29, 2010
Complete Women's Basketball Release in PDF Format 
TIP-OFF: The University of San Diego women's basketball team (12-8, 4-2 WCC) will host Pepperdine University this Saturday in a 2 p.m. WCC game at USD's Jenny Craig Pavilion to close out the first half of WCC action.
LAST TIME OUT: On the back of a 22-point performance from senior forward Morgan Henderson and another solid 20-point outing from sophomore guard Dominique Conners, the University of San Diego women's basketball team powered past Loyola Marymount University, 69-60, Thursday evening in a West Coast Conference game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Fueling the offense for the Toreros (12-8, 4-2 WCC) on 7-of-9 from the floor, Henderson moved her career point total to 979, just 21 points away from eclipsing the 1000 point mark. Right behind Henderson in leading the San Diego scoring charge, Conners enjoyed her eighth consecutive double-digit scoring effort on 8-of-13 shooting while adding seven rebounds. The final Torero to reach double figures, sophomore forward Morgan Woodrow contributed 15 points along with five boards and three assists. As a team, USD shot .500 from the floor and out rebounded the Lions 31-23.
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. 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.
SCOUTING THE WAVES: Pepperdine enters the game with an overall record of 12-8 and are 3-3 in the WCC after dropping a 80-65 decision to Saint Mary's College this past Thursday. With that loss, the Waves are currently riding a three-game losing streak. Pepperdine leads the all-time series at 35-22, but USD won the last meeting 76-69 in the WCC Tournament last season. The Waves are led by senior forward Miranda Ayim, who averages a team-best 15.4 ppg to go along with 6.5 rebounds per game. The only other Pepperdine player averaging double figures is Jazmine Jackson with an average of 11.9 ppg. The Waves are under the direction of sixth-year head coach Julie Rousseau. During her tenure in Malibu, Rousseau has posted an overall record of 78-90.
CONNERS CONTINUES HOT STREAK: Sophomore guard Dominique Conners continued her hot play as of late with another impressive performance this past Thursday. Conners scored 20 points in the win against Loyola Marymount. This marked the third game this season in which she has scored 20 or more points. She had a 20 point performance in the win over Boston College (12/28/09) and had a career-high 30 points in the loss to UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 29. Conners has now scored in double figures in eight straight games and in 10 of the last 11 games. On the season, Conners leads the team's scoring with her 14.5 ppg average.
MO MONEY: With her season-high 22-point performance in Thursday's win over Loyola Marymount, Morgan Henderson has now scored in double-figures in back-to-back games, as she scored 13 in the overtime loss to Saint Mary's this past Saturday. Over the past two games, Henderson has not only scored 35 points, but she is shooting the lights out, as she has gone 12-for-18 (.667) from the field, and she has been red hot from beyond the arc as well, going 5-for-10 from distance. Henderson has also now moved into fifth all-time in three-point baskets made at USD with 110. On the season, Henderson leads the team with 33 treys, and she is now averaging 10.0 ppg.
WHO'S HOT FOR THE TOREROS?: Sophomore guard/forward Morgan Woodrow has been red hot for the Toreros as of late. In the past six games, Woodrow has scored in double figures in four of those games, including scoring in double figures in the last two games, 14 against Saint Mary's and 15 in Thursday's win over Loyola Marymount. Over this s ix-game stretch, she is averaging 11.8 ppg, while shooting .455 from the field. On the season, Woodrow has moved her scoring average up to 7.4 ppg.
CLOSING IN ON 1,000: Senior forward Morgan Henderson is closing in on the 1,000 career point total, as the Leawood, Kan. native has 979 career points. Henderson in currently averaging 10 ppg and at this rate, she could become the 12th Torero to eclipse this mark before season's end.
A LOOK AHEAD: After playing a majority of their games this season inside the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion, USD only has three more games at home this season. The Toreros, who are 3-4 on the road, must play five of their next eight games on the road, including a trip to Moraga for another battle with second-place Saint Mary's on Feb. 20.
INTERESTING COMPARISON: This season the Toreros were picked to finish sixth in the WCC. The last time USD was picked to finish sixth in the WCC preseason poll was the 2006-07 season, and those Toreros went to finish second in the WCC, and through their first six games of WCC action they were 6-0. This season USD is 4-2 in the WCC and sitting alone in third place, just one game out of second place. Also in 06-07, USD played five of its first seven WCC games at home, and were forced to go on the road down the stretch. Time will only tell if the 2009-10 team will have the similar fate of the 06-07 team did.
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.
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.
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.
