SAN DIEGO – Competing in their first two games of the West Coast Conference season, the San Diego women's basketball team (4-5, 0-0 WCC) is back in action this Thursday and Saturday at Jenny Craig Pavilion. USD will first host the Washington State Cougars (5-6, 0-0 WCC) on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 6:00 p.m., and will then welcome the Gonzaga Bulldogs (5-6, 0-0 WCC) on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 2:00 p.m. as part of USD's Winter Wonderland doubleheader with men's basketball competing at 6:00 p.m. that evening against UC San Diego. 

LAST TIME OUT

• San Diego enters conference play fresh off one of their best games of the season, as they defeated CSUN 74-52 on Saturday, Dec. 14 at Jenny Craig Pavilion as the Toreros outscored the Matadors by a 47-16 margin in the second and third quarters. 
• Leading the way for the Toreros last time out was strong performances from both Ava Ranson and Kylie Horstmeyer as each scored in double figures in 22 minutes of action against CSUN. 
• USD also received numerous strong contributions from their bench as Dresha Moore scored eight points and grabbed eight boards, while Hallie Rhodes did a little bit of everything with four steals and three assists in her team's final non-conference game. 

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. WASHINGTON STATE

• Thursday evening's game against WSU will be just the fifth ever meeting between the two programs with the Cougars emerging victorious in the previous four games. 
• It has been eight years since the last match up between the two sides as Washington State earned an 83-73 victory at Beasley Coliseum back on Dec. 2, 2016. 
• Leading the way for the Toreros in that match up was a stellar performance from Maya Hood, who scored 27 points on 13-of-18 shooting and grabbed nine boards against the Cougars. 

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. GONZAGA

• Saturday afternoon's game against the Bulldogs will be the 76th all-time match up between the conference foes as Gonzaga leads the all-time series 52-23 and have won the last 16 games between the two teams. 
• Gonzaga won both meetings between the two sides last season, first at home by an 85-67 margin on Jan. 13, 2024 and then again on Feb. 1, 2024 by a 80-52 final score at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
• In last season's match ups Kylie Horstmeyer averaged 11 PPG across both games against the Bulldogs while shooting at an efficient 47% from the field.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS

• Washington State enters the conference season with a 5-6 overall record on the season with victories over Lewis-Clark State College, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Norfolk State and Virginia. 
• Leading the way for her team this season has been the play of senior guard Tara Wallack, who leads WSU with an average of 14.2 PPG on 43% shooting from the field to go along with 6.8 rebounds per game. 
• The Cougars have struggled at both three-point shooting as well as defending from beyond the arc as they've shot 30% from three, while their opponents have shot 39% from long range this season. 

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

• Gonzaga has posted a 5-6 record to start their season with victories over Montana, Wyoming, Rice, New Mexico and Eastern Washington in non-conference action. 
• The Bulldogs boast the WCC's leading scorer in fifth year forward Yvonne Ejim who's averaging 19.8 PPG on 57% shooting from the field while also doing a strong job on the glass with 8.5 rebounds per game through the first 11 games of the season. 
• San Diego will look to try and force some turnovers as Gonzaga has given the ball away an average of 18.4 times per game, while USD has done a good job of forcing turnovers with their opponents coughing it up 158 total times in non-conference play. 

HOW TO FOLLOW
Thursday and Saturday's games will be streamed on ESPN+, links to live stats and the broadcast can be found on team's website. To stay up to date with San Diego women's basketball, please follow the team on Instagram and Twitter/X by searching "USDWBB".