Feb. 21, 2014
Complete Release in PDF Format 
TIP OFF: The University of San Diego women's basketball team (21-6, 10-6 WCC) will remain on the road on Saturday, as they head up to Malibu for a 2 p.m. game against Pepperdine University inside of the Firestone Fieldhouse.
LAST TIME OUT: Behind a career-high 31 points from senior guard Amy Kame, the University of San Diego women's basketball team picked up a 87-74 West Coast Conference win over Loyola Marymount University Wednesday evening at the Gersten Pavilion. With the win, the Toreros improve to 21-6 overall, move to 10-6 in the WCC and have completed a season sweep over the Lions. With the loss, LMU falls to 8-18 overall and 5-10 in the WCC. Kame scored her career-high 31 points, 29 of which came in the second half, on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, while also pulling down six rebounds and dishing out six assists. Sophia Ederaine posted a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Cori Woodward provided a spark off the bench and scored a career-high 12 points, all from beyond the arc. Brooke Jelniker was the final Torero in double figures, as she had 10. Kameron Knutson also had a great game, as she pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds. As a team, USD shot 48.5% from the field, and out rebounded the Lions 41-30.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Toreros will close out the regular-season on Mar. 1, as they travel to Provo, Utah to take on second place BYU at 12 p.m. After next Saturday's game, all the WC Tournament seeding will have been determined, then USD is off to Las Vegas to try and earn the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
ALL 2014 WCC CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES TELEVISED: BYUtv will produce and televise a record 12 games from the 2014 WCC Basketball Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. BYUtv will broadcast the men's and women's first round on Thursday, March 6, the women's quarterfinals on Friday, March 7, a pair of men's quarterfinals on Saturday, March 8, and the women's semifinals on Monday, March 10. In addition, all 12 games produced by BYUtv will be streamed live on the WCC's new platform, TheW.tv. The women's title game on Tuesday will be carried live on ESPNU.
SCOUTING THE WAVES: Pepperdine enters the game with an overall record of 5-21, and they are 1-14 in the WCC after dropping a 89-75 decision to BYU this past Thursday. The Waves are currently riding a 12-game losing streak. Pepperdine does lead the all-time series at 39-28, however, USD has won the last six meetings, including a 71-43 decision back on Dec. 28 in San Diego. The Waves offense is paced by sophomore guard Keitra Wallace, who is averaging 12.6 ppg, best active player scoring average on the team. Two other starters are averaging double figures as well in Allie Green (11.8 ppg), and Ea Shoushtari (11.2 ppg).
LAST TIME VS. PEPPERDINE: Behind a career-day from senior forward Felicia Wijenberg, the University of San Diego women's basketball team remained undefeated, cruising past Pepperdine University, 71-43, in the West Coast Conference opener for both teams on Dec. 28 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Wijenberg scored 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, while pulling down a career-high 14 rebounds to post her first double-double of the season. Amy Kame was the second Torero in double figures, as the senior guard scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, while pulling down seven rebounds. Brooke Jelniker recorded a carer-high 11 rebounds, while Sophia Ederaine had eight points and Malina Hood added in seven points. As a team, USD shot 45.6% from the field, and out rebounded the Waves 48-39.
IMPRESSIVE SEASON CONTINUES: San Diego women's basketball team, continues to reach uncharted waters for the program. The Toreros have surpassed any USD team before them, by beginning the season 15-0, then jumping into the top-25 on the week of Jan. 6 at No. 24 for the first-time in program history, and they were also receiving votes in the top-25 polls for eight consecutive weeks. San Diego has defeated five post-season teams from a year ago along the way in Northern Colorado, Idaho, San Diego State, Saint Mary's, and BYU. USD has also knocked off Arizona State, who is currently ranked No. 20 in the AP top-25 this week.
KAME SCORES A CAREER-HIGH: Senior guard Amy Kame had quite the game in Wednesday's win over Loyola Marymount. The Grand Junction, Colo. native scored a career-high 31 points, 29 of which came in the second half, on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, while also pulling down six rebounds and dishing out six assists. This was only the second time in her career she had scored 30 or more points.
WOODWARD LETTING IT FLY: Freshman guard Cori Woordward saw a dare from the LMU defense on Wednesday and she did not flinch, she light up the scoreboard instead. In the first half, LMU was daring USD to shoot the three, and until Woodward entered the game, no one would shoot the ball. Woodward simply let it fly and the result, nine first half points, all from beyond the arc. She finished the game with a career-high 12 points.
DOUBLE THE PLEASURE, DOUBLE THE FUN: Sophia Ederaine recorded her team-best fifth double-double of the season in Wednesday's win over LMU. Ederaine scored 16 points, and she pulled down 11 rebounds. Ederaine scored her 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field. This marked the third time over the past four games that Ederaine has scored in double figures, and her 13th game of the season that she has scored double figures.
WCC STANDINGS UPDATE: With USD's win over LMU on Saturday, USD remains in fifth place in the WCC, just a half a game behind both Pacific and Saint Mary's for third place, and just two games behind BYU for second. USD, who has finished second in the WCC the last two seasons, has two games remaining, and still has a chance at finishing second. Consider this, of USD's two remaining opponents, only BYU has a winning WCC record at 12-4.
THREE STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASONS: With the 59-52 win over Portland this past Saturday, the Toreros posted their third consecutive 20-win season, and fourth overall 20-win season in program history. Last season, when USD won its 20th game, it marked back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time ever. So new heights continue for the Toreros under ninth-year head coach Cindy Fisher. This string of 20-win seasons has ended like this... In 2011-12, USD finished with a program-best 26-9 overall record, and a trip the Final Four of the WNIT...then in 2012-13, USD posted a 22-10 overall record and reached the second round of the WNIT. Where will this season's team end up? Time will only tell. The only other 20-win Torero team was the 2006-07 squad, who went 21-9 and made the first round of the WNIT.
MOVIN ON UP: Senior guard Amy Kame continues to move her way up the all-time scorers list at USD. She currently sits at No. 4 overall with 1,426 points, and is 84 points behind Susie Erpelding (1996-2000) for third all-time. However, Kame's game is not limited to scoring, as she is currently third all-time in career steals with 207, and is now seventh all-time in career assists at 303.
TOREROS IN ROAD GAMES: San Diego, who is 14-1 at home, has posted a 7-5 record away from the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion. USD was 5-0 on the road in non-conference games, but have since dropped their first five road WCC games, before snapping that streak with a 72-44 win over Santa Clara back on Feb. 8, and have now won two consecutive road games with Wednesday's win over LMU. However, in road games, USD is out scoring their opponents 810-752, out rebounding them 519-422. Three players are averaging double figures, paced by Amy Kame (18.2 ppg), followed by Felicia Wijenberg (10.8 ppg), and Malina Hood (10.7 ppg).
WATCH THE GAME: Saturday's game against Pepperdine will have a live video stream of all the action. Simply click on the "Watch" link on the women's basketball schedule page in order to view the game form the comfort of your own home.
ABOUT THE RECORD: San Diego is 21-6 overall, which is the best record through 27 games in program history. The Toreros have set the record for the best start of any sport at USD in the Division I era at 15-0 this season. The 15 wins in a row also happens -to set a program record for longest winning streak.
W.TV BROADCASTS: The West Coast Conference has announced its 2013-14 women's basketball broadcast schedule on its dynamic new platform, TheW.tv. USD will be featured on two of the five broadcasts, and both contests will be home games. TheW.tv delivers West Coast Conference live games, regular studio programming, and exclusive live coverage from every WCC championship free of charge, featuring the tagline, "All the action. Anytime. Anywhere." The first women's basketball broadcast on TheW.tv will take place on Saturday, January 18 when BYU visits San Diego at 2 p.m. PST. The following day, defending West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga plays at Santa Clara, and on January 30, BYU travels to Saint Mary's. February's featured match-ups include Pacific at Saint Mary's (Feb. 8) and Gonzaga at San Diego (Feb. 13).
McDANIEL OUT FOR REMAINDER OF THE YEAR: The University of San Diego women's basketball program received disheartening news this week, that junior forward Katelyn McDaniel will have to miss the remainder of the 2013-14 season, after suffering a season-ending injury at practice this past Monday. McDaniel, a 6-1 junior from Littleton, Colo., had an MRI on Wednesday, revealing that she tore her ACL, in a routine practice drill on Monday. The projected recovery period is 8-to-12 months after surgery, which is scheduled in the next few weeks. McDaniel was just tabbed the West Coast Conference Player of the Week on Monday Dec. 16, after recording her fourth double-double in the past five games, with 11 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in a 68-51 win against Long Beach State on Dec. 13. She also dished out a season-high three assists and tied a career-high with three steals. McDaniel has been averaging 10.3 points-per-game, 8.1 rebounds-per-game, and is tied for fourth among WCC double-double leaders with four.
TOREROS TABBED TO FINISH SECOND IN PRESEASON POLL: The University of San Diego women's basketball team, who received one first place vote, was tabbed to finish second in the West Coast Conference, according to a poll of the league's coaches. Gonzaga, the defending WCC champion, was picked to finish first, while Saint Mary's was picked to finish third and BYU fourth. WCC newcomer Pacific was picked to finish fifth, with Loyola Marymount picked sixth. Portland, San Francisco, and Santa Clara were tied for seventh and Pepperdine was picked to finish 10th, respectfully.
Maya Hood TO REDSHIRT SEASON: Maya Hood, a sophomore guard for the University of San Diego women's basketball team, will redshirt during the 2013-14 season because she is expecting a baby in early November. Hood will return to action for the Toreros beginning with the 2014-15 season, and will have three years of eligibility left. Hood, a 5-10 guard from San Diego, Calif., was the West Coast Conference Newcomer of the Year as a freshman, in addition to being named All-WCC honorable mention. Hood managed to crack into the USD starting line-up just 10 games into the season, and remained in the starting line-up the rest of the way. Hood was USD's second leading scorer at 10.3 points-per-game, while leading the team in shooting at 54.3 percent from the field. Hood scored in double figures in 18 of the 32 games she played in, with a career-high of 21 coming in a win against Loyola Marymount on February 14, 2013. She also managed to record a pair of double-doubles this past season in scoring and rebounding.
A PAIR OF TOREROS SELECTED TO THE PRESEASON ALL-WCC TEAM: The Toreros had two players named to the preseason All-WCC team in the form of senior guard Amy Kame and sophomore guard Maya Hood.
--> Kame, a 6-0 junior guard from Grand Junction, Colo., paced the team's scoring effort last season with an average of 15.1 ppg, while shooting 40.2 percent from the field, en route to a first-team All-WCC distinction. Kame was named the WCC Player of the Month for November, and took home one WCC Player of the Week award this past season. Kame scored 20 or more points in seven games last season, and scored in double figures in all but seven of the 32 games she has played in.
--> Hood, a 5-10 guard from San Diego, was tabbed the WCC Newcomer of the Year after an impressive freshman campaign in which she was the team's second leading scorer with 10.3 ppg, while leading the team in field goal percentage at 54.3 percent. Hood was named the WCC Player of the Week once this past year and managed to score in double figures in 18 of the 31 games she played in. Hood quickly went from bench player to starter just 10 games into the season. Hood will be redshirting this season, and will return next season with three years of eligibility left.
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 ninth season at the helm of the Toreros program. She was named the program's third head coach on April 19, 2005. Last season, Fisher managed to do something no other coach in USD history could, she posted a second consecutive 20-win season, as USD advanced to the second roud of the WNIT, and posted a 22-10 overall record. The 2011-12 season was a historical one for the Toreros, as it is now the greatest season in program history. Under Fisher's tutelage, the Toreros soared to new heights, and were in uncharted waters. USD posted a program best 26-9 overall record, posted a 12-4 mark in WCC play (the most wins in WCC play in program history) and they recorded the program's first ever post season win. Not only was the first ever post season win, but the Toreros advanced all the way to the Final Four of the WNIT, before falling to eventual WNIT champions Oklahoma State. 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.
