Bay Bridge Showdown Set for Thursday

USF (11-8, 5-3 WCC) vs. Saint Mary's (10-9, 5-3 WCC)
Thursday, Jan. 26 | 7 p.m.
War Memorial at the Sobrato Center | San Francisco, Calif.
Series Record: Saint Mary's leads, 40-25
Last Meeting: Jan. 7, 2017 (SMC 75-72)
Video/Audio: TheW.tv (George Devine, PBP)
Live Stats: USF.StatBroadcast.com
Complete Game Notes [PDF]

Opening Tip
USF (11-8, 5-3 WCC) plays host to the Saint Mary's Gaels (10-9, 5-3 WCC) at 7 p.m. on Thursday at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. The Dons, winners of three of their last four, will be looking for a season-best three-game winning streak when they face Saint Mary's, who posted a pair of wins last week as well and has won four of five coming into the week.

The Dons At a Glance...
Last Week

Posted a 75-56 win at Portland on Thursday night behind 21 points apiece from Rachel Howard and Anna Seilund.
The Dons shot 51.8 percent on the night, their second-best shooting performance of the year, as they led for virtually the entire contest.
Kalyn Simon added 11 points for USF and Michaela Rakova pitched in with seven points and a team-best seven rebounds.
Topped San Diego, 81-72, at home on Saturday afternoon.
Howard tallied a game-high 27 points on 8-of-17 shooting and 3-of-5 from distance.
Five Dons scored in double figures for the second time this season with Simon (16), Seilund (13), Rakova (12) and Price (12) joining the fun.

THREE'S A PARTY
With 27 points against San Diego on Saturday, senior guard Rachel Howard has registered 20+ points in three straight games, a career first for her. She scored 21 in a win at Portland and 22 at Pacific.

WHERE THEY STACK UP
At 5-3 in WCC play, USF and Saint Mary's come into Thursday's game tied for second in the WCC standings behind conference leaders, BYU and Gonzaga, who are each 6-2.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Dons are enjoying their longest homestand of the season to date with two more home matchups on the horizon following Saturday's home win over San Diego. USF is 7-1 at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center, compared to 3-7 on the road.

JOIN THE CLUB
Howard's three-pointer on her first attempt of the game at Pacific on Jan. 14 put her over 1,000 points for her career. She became the 22nd player in USF history to reach that milestone.

A LITTLE OF THIS, LITTLE OF THAT
Junior guard Anna Seilund has been a veritable Swiss Army knife for the Dons this year. She ranks seventh in the WCC at 81.7 percent, 10th in assists (3.9 per game) - including a career-high eight at Saint Mary's on Jan. 7. She established a career high with 22 points against San Jose State on Dec. 6 while averaging a career-best 11.3 points per game, second on the team, and is logging the eight-most in the WCC (33.2 per game).

FROM WAY DOWNTOWN...BANG!
Redshirt junior Kalyn Simon ranks second in the conference with a 48.2 percent clip from the perimeter. She went 5-of-12 from deep over the Dons' two games this past week.

MAKE EM' IF YOU GOT EM'
As a team, the Dons rank second in the WCC from the free throw line (76.1). USF went 9-of-22 against San Diego this past Saturday, and 8-of-9 at Portland.

Scouting Report

About Saint Mary's
The Gaels posted wins at Pacific (63-54) and Pepperdine (81-60) this past week and have won four of their last five coming into Thursday's meeting. The SMC offense has run through junior guard Stella Beck, who ranks seventh in the WCC at 13.6 points per game. Meanwhile, sophomore forward Megan McKay averages 11.6 points per contest and is a big reason why the Gaels lead the conference in shooting as McKay boasts a WCC-best 59.5 field goal percentage on the year. SMC leads the conference in assists as well, but has spread the wealth in that regard with Beck (66), Carly Turner (56) and Jasmine Forcadilla (41) handing out the most assists on the team. The Gaels have also been a force on the boards, leading the WCC in rebounding margin (+9.9), while top rebounder McKay sits tied four fourth in the WCC averaging 7.9 rebounds per game. Under 11th-year head coach Paul Thomas, the Gaels were picked to finish third in the WCC this year.

Series History with Saint Mary's
Saint Mary's owns a 40-25 advantage in the all-time series. The Gaels have won 16 of the last 19 meetings, including a 75-72 victory on Jan. 7 in Moraga. A technical foul with 11 seconds left in a tie game whistled on USF head coach Molly Goodenbour led to three SMC free throws and helped the Gaels secure the win in the most recent matchup. The last USF win came in the semifinals of last year's WCC Tournament as the Dons captured a 67-65 victory. The Dons' longest winning streak in the series was six in a row between 1994-95 and 1996-97, while SMC won eight straight between 2007-08 and 2011-12.

The Last Time They Met
A back and forth affair that featured 15 lead changes and 10 ties went the way of Saint Mary's as the Gaels topped USF 75-72 in West Coast Conference action on Jan. 7 at McKeon Pavilion. The Gaels took advantage of a USF technical foul in the final seconds to take the lead and cap off a four-point swing that saw the Dons relinquish a one-point lead with 1:30 to play. Redshirt junior Kalyn Simon led the Dons with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting - including 4-of-6 from the perimeter. Michaela Rakova fouled out in the fourth quarter with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Nia Alexander tallied 12 points and three rebounds off the bench. With SMC holding onto a 56-54 lead to start the fourth quarter, Alexander quickly tied it with a jumper that sparked a 7-0 USF spurt that just as suddenly gave way to a four-minute stretch without a USF field goal until Anna Seilund's three-point play with 3:37 to go, making it 67-63 in favor of USF. The Dons fended off Saint Mary's until the Gaels' Shannon Mauldin stole a USF inbounds with 1:47 on the clock and laid it in to give SMC its first lead since the end of the third quarter at 70-69. But Simon came to the rescue and answered with a three on the other end that gave USF what would amount to its final lead at 72-71 with 1:30 to play. SMC's Megan McKay, who was one of two Gaels who recorded a double-double with 23 points and 16 rebounds, went to the line and made one of two free throws to knot the game at 70-70 with 39 seconds to play. After a missed jumper by Alexander, head coach Molly Goodenbour was whistled for a technical foul with 11 seconds on the clock. Carly Turner hit both of the ensuing free throws to give SMC a 74-72 advantage. Turner knocked down one more free throw before Rachel Howard's last-second three-point attempt was blocked as time expired.

Last Time Out
The Dons trailed by six at halftime but rallied back with a strong final 20 minutes, anchored by a season-high five players in double figures, to post an 81-72 victory over San Diego on Saturday afternoon from War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. Senior guard Rachel Howard led the way with 27 points on 8-of-17 from the field, including three 3-pointers, to post her third consecutive game over 20 points, the first time in her career she has done so. Kalyn Simon tallied 16 points while matching Howard with a game-high seven rebounds. Meanwhile, Anna Seilund scored 13 points and handed out a game-best seven assists, and Michaela Rakova and Claudia Price each registered 12 points apiece, with Price going a perfect 6-for-6 from the field. The back and forth carried into the fourth quarter, but the Dons started to pull away when Seilund found Price under the basket to extend the USF lead to 72-66 with 3:46 left. San Diego (10-8, 3-5 WCC) went the final 6:14 without a field goal, helping USF put together a 16-6 run over the game's final six minutes. The Toreros hung around by hitting six of their seven free throw attempts down the stretch. However, once San Diego started fouling USF with under a minute to play, the WCC's third-best free throw shooting team took advantage of the free chances by making 7-of-8 within the final minute to close out the win.

Up Next
The Dons stay at home to host Pacific on Saturday at 2 p.m. at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.

Fan Guide

Ticket Information
Individual game tickets for all USF home games this season are available online at USFDons.com or by calling (415) 422-2USF. General admission tickets are available for as low as $10. All USFCA faculty, staff and students with a valid ID, and youth 12 and under enter free.

Parking Information
Parking is available free of charge on game days two hours prior to tip-off and one hour after the conclusion of the game in the Hayes-Healy garage (located along Golden Gate Ave. in between War Memorial at the Sobrato Center and the Hayes Healy dorms) and at the Koret Health and Recreation Center lot (at the corner of Parker Ave. and Turk St.). Street parking is also available around campus, but visitors are reminded to take notice of signs displaying city parking restrictions for each street. Refer to the USF Department of Public Safety parking webpage for a map of parking on campus.

Tickets are available for USF's Hall of Fame dinner to be held on Feb. 3 at the McLaren Conference Center on campus. Former women's basketball standout Tami Adkins '93 joins Eduardo Rangel '66 (men's soccer), Patrick McGuigan '06 (baseball), James Hardy '78 (men's basketball), and Dr. Sandee Hill (special category) as the 2017 class of inductees into the Father Hubert "Hub" Flynn Hall of Fame. Click here to purchase your tickets today.

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