Women's Basketball | 2/28/2017 4:13:00 PM

Click here to view the women's bracket.

Molly Goodenbour had to hit the ground running. After former head coach Jennifer Azzi unexpectedly announced her resignation in mid-September following six years at the helm, Goodenbour stepped in on Sept. 28 and was immediately tasked with sustaining the momentum of a team coming off its first West Coast Conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in nearly a decade. Opening night was less than two months away and Goodenbour didn't even know her players' names yet.
 
No matter. Goodenbour assembled her staff and went to work. What came of it has been one of the best seasons for a first-year coach in program history. At 17-12 overall, Goodenbour has posted the second-best record for a USF coach in her debut season and become just the third coach in USF history to earn a winning record in her first year. 
 
"The players have been fantastic through this transition," Goodenbour said. "They have been open-minded, coachable, willing to adapt to change and adjust to new styles of coaching from our staff. They have also done a great job of stepping successfully into new and expanded roles on the court. Last year's team was dominated by two seniors and these guys were mainly role players. Now they have had to step up and become primary scorers, rebounders, defenders, etc. and they have done so quite well."
 
Despite a season largely characterized by inconsistency, the Dons came together to win their last four games to close out the regular season, establishing a season-long winning streak and providing them vital momentum heading into the WCC tournament.
 
Along the way, Goodenbour has helped guide the team to an 11-7 record in WCC play, marking the first time since Bill Nepfel and Mary Hile-Nepfel coached the 1996-97 squad to an 11-3 mark that USF has posted double-digit wins in conference action.
 
That year the Dons won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row. While Goodenbour is surely not looking that far ahead, she recognizes the ways in which this team has started moving in the right direction.  
 
"I had hoped for a little better consistency in our performance over the course of the season," Goodenbour said. "We feel like we didn't always perform to the level we are capable of. We still need to be tougher and more physical and assertive. We've been very inconsistent in those areas over course of season. But part of that had to do with all of the transition - new coaches, new roles, etc. We weren't ready to be consistently good yet. Maybe now we are getting closer to that with this group as the season ends."
 
When the Dons take on No. 5 seed Loyola Marymount on Thursday at 8 p.m. in their first game of the tournament, they'll do so as a No. 4 seed, their highest seed since the 2001-02 campaign. The team's performance builds on the foundation left by Azzi, who added to the team's win total each year of her tenure, culminating in USF's first 20-win season since 1996-97.
 
With 13 of 15 players returning from last year's championship squad, there was no lack of experience coming into the year, but Goodenbour has seen how the team and staff alike have progressed as the year has gone on, hopefully setting the stage for another successful tournament run.
 
"Growth has certainly occurred," Goodenbour said, "but I think a big thing that has happened is that we've gotten more familiar with each other. We know the players better and they have a better feel for our staff and our style of coaching. As I said before, this group has had to take on expanded roles in terms of leadership and on-court production and they have grown into those roles over the course of the season."
 
With the momentum in their favor, Goodenbour is looking to lead the Dons to their fifth consecutive year opening the tournament with a victory. What lies beyond Thursday's game will have to wait. For now it's all about continuing the ongoing transition in a positive direction.     
 
"We feel like we ended the regular season playing well and we're feeling good about ourselves as a team," added Goodenbour. "Hopefully we can carry some of that momentum to the tournament. We hope that Vegas is good to the Dons once again."
 

---

USF (17-12, 11-7 WCC) vs. Loyola Marymount (14-15, 9-9 WCC)
Thursday, Mar. 2 | 8 p.m.
Orleans Arena | Las Vegas, Nev.       
Series Record: USF leads, 40-33
Last Meeting: Feb. 23, 2017 (H), USF 89-73
Video: TheW.tv / BYUtv
Audio: Livestream.com/usf/wbbaudio (George Devine, PBP)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Complete Game Notes [PDF]
 
Opening Tip
No. 4 seed USF (17-12, 11-7 WCC) meets No. 5 seed Loyola Marymount (14-15, 9-9 WCC) at 8 p.m. on Thursday at the Orleans Arena in their opening matchups in the West Coast Conference Championships. The Dons captured victories in both meetings this year, the most recent of which was an 89-73 win at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center this past Thursday. Visit USFDons.com/DonsInVegas for more information on the WCC Tournament.  
 
The Dons At a Glance...                       
LAST WEEK

• Defeated Loyola Marymount, 89-73, on Thursday night
• Rachel Howard (29), Anna Seilund (23), and Michaela Rakova (19) accounted for 71 of the Dons' 89 points
• Howard set a program record by going 14-of-14 from the free throw line and the Dons made a season-high 31 free throws
• Seilund's 23 points were a career high, while her five 3-pointers were a season best
• An 11-2 run early in the fourth quarter put the Dons up 74-57 as they started to pull away
• Closed out the season with an 84-78 win over Pepperdine in the regular season finale
• Howard netted a career-high 37 points, going 10-if-23 from the field and 6-of-13 from the perimeter
• Seilund just missed out on a triple-double as she registered 17 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, which matched her career high
• The Waves pulled within two with six minutes left, but a 10-2 USF run and the Dons sinking all 10 free throws down the stretched helped ice the victory

 
USF IN THE WCC TOURNAMENT
The Dons are 21-19 in the WCC Tournament all-time with four tournament crowns to their credit (1995, '96, '97, 2016). They shocked the conference by winning it as a No. 6 seed last year, defeating BYU 70-68 in the finals and becoming the lowest seed to win the conference tournament. USF also appeared in the finals in 2014-15 when they lost to BYU, 76-65. Their No. 4 seed is the Dons' highest since 2001-02 when they fell to San Diego, 66-54, in the opening round. Altogether, USF has won their first-round matchup in 12 of their 23 tournament appearances, including each of the last four years.
 
DONS AND LIONS ALL SQUARED UP
USF and LMU are even with a 4-4 record against one another in the WCC Tournament all-time. This will be their first meeting in the tournament since 2013-14 when No. 8 seed USF edged No. 9 seed LMU, 63-62, in the first round.    
 
WHO'S HOT?
Senior guard Rachel Howard and junior guard Anna Seilund have had the hot hand from long distance of late. Over the last five games, Howard is shooting a team-best 50 percent (18-36) from the perimeter, while Seilund has connected at a 48.6 percent clip (17-35) from deep. Howard is pacing the offense at 25.2 points per game over the last five contests in which USF is 4-1. 
 
HOWARD IS THIS WEEK'S BEST...AGAIN
Senior Rachel Howard was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week for the second week in a row, joining LMU's Jackie Johnson as the only other back-to-back winner this season. Howard averaged 33 points over USF's two wins this past week against LMU and Pepperdine, shooting 47 percent from the perimeter and 96 percent from the free throw line, while pouring in a career-high 37 points on Senior Day against the Waves.
 
MAKING A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION
Head coach Molly Goodenbour is just the third USF coach - among the program's eight all-time coaches - to post a winning record in her first year at the helm. The team's 17-12 overall record is the second-best in USF history for a first-year coach, trailing Jan Ternyik's 22-8 mark in 1980-81. In addition, Goodenbour has guided the Dons to their most conference wins (11) since Bill Nepfel and Mary Hile-Nepfel's 11-3 record in 1996-97.
 
POUR IT ON
Rachel Howard's career-high 37 points against Pepperdine this past Saturday was the third-highest single game total in USF history, matching Mary Hile (vs. Oregon, Feb. 25, 1979) and Brittany Lindhe (at Gonzaga, Jan. 14, 1995). Teri Hunt owns the USF record of 42 points in a game, which she accomplished against San Diego on Jan. 31, 1987. Earlier this year, Howard scored a then-career high 30 points against Seattle on Nov. 15 that made her the 37th player in USF history to score at least 30 in a game. The last Don to do so was Taylor Proctor, who had 32 against UC Riverside on Dec. 4, 2015.
  
Scouting Report
 
About Loyola Marymount
The Lions enter the tournament with a No. 5 seed having won three of their last four to close out the regular season. They defeated Pacific, 75-69, at home on Saturday in the regular season finale. Senior forward Jackie Johnson sits at third in the WCC averaging 17.5 points per game and second in rebounding (9.2). On the defensive end, Johnson's 2.9 blocks per game lead the conference by a wide margin. Sophomore forward Cheyanne Wallace (12.4) and senior guard Leslie Lopez-Wood (12.0) are the other Lions averaging double figure scoring. Lopez-Wood has been the Lions' best threat from long distance as her 57 threes ranks as the sixth-most in the WCC. Meanwhile, sophomore guard Andee Velasco is pacing the conference at 6.0 assists per contest. LMU was picked to finish sixth in the WCC this year under fifth-year head coach Charity Elliott.  
 
Series History with Loyola Marymount
USF leads the all-time series, 40-33, and carries a nine-game winning streak in the series into Thursday's matchup. The Dons took both previous meetings this season when they won 79-72 in Los Angeles on Feb. 4 and 89-73 at home this past Thursday. Prior to USF's current winning streak, LMU had won five in a row and 10-of-11 between 2009-10 and 2012-13. The Dons own the longest winning streak of the series with 11 straight victories between 1993-94 and 1997-98, but LMU won 10 straight over the 2003-04 and 2007-08 seasons. USF also won the first five meetings starting in 1984-85.    The Dons and Lions are 4-4 against one another in the WCC Tournament.    
 
Last Time They Met
Three players accounted for most of the scoring, while the defense made timely stops as the USF women's basketball team posted an 89-73 win over Loyola Marymount on Thursday evening from War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. Senior guard Rachel Howard scored 29 points and handed out five assists, while junior Anna Seilund tallied a career-high 23 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists and junior Michaela Rakova added 19 points as the triad registered 71 of the Dons' 89 points. Howard set a program record by going a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line, while USF hit a season-high 31 free throws on the night. While not their most democratic effort in terms of scoring distribution, the Dons picked up some vital blue collar support from senior Claudia Price's nine points and game-high nine rebounds as she helped limit LMU's Jackie Johnson – the WCC's second-leading scorer coming into the game – to just 5-of-15 from the field. On the offensive side, USF seemed to have an answer for every LMU run. Trailing by 14 to start the second half, the Lions crept within six on a pair of free throws by Johnson midway through the third quarter. But USF responded with five quick points and eventually a Seilund three-pointer that gave the Dons an 11-point lead heading into the final period. A four-minute scoreless stretch for USF midway through the fourth quarter did little to shift the momentum in LMU's favor as the Lions went just 5-of-14 from the field in the final period. The Dons went 1-of-8 from the field over the final seven minutes but converted 11 of 15 chances from the charity stripe to keep the Lions at arm's length.

Last Time Out
Rachel Howard made her final appearance on the Hilltop one to remember as the senior scored a career-high 37 points in leading the Dons to an 84-78 win over Pepperdine from War Memorial at the Sobrato Center on Saturday afternoon. Howard went 10-for-23 from the field and established a new season best by going 6-of-13 from the perimeter as she surpassed her previous high of 30 points. Junior guard Anna Seilund just missed out on her first career triple double as she registered 17 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, which matched her career best. Redshirt junior Kalyn Simon chipped in with 14 points to round out the Dons in double figures. Pepperdine scored first when Allie Green hit a three on the Waves' first possession, but then USF responded with a 16-0 run that featured five three-pointers between Seilund and Howard and a free throw from junior Michaela Rakova. Howard scored 14 points and went 4-for-4 from three-point range in the first quarter alone. The Waves rode the coattails of Robinson-Bacote's 13 points in the fourth quarter that helped Pepperdine get within two with just over six minutes remaining, but a 10-2 run midway through the final quarter helped the Dons swing the momentum back in their favor for good, punctuated by Nia Alexander's jumper that put USF up 10 with four minutes left. The Dons didn't hit a field goal over the final three minutes, but took advantage of the foul game by sinking all 10 free throws down the stretch to close it out.
 
Up Next
If the Dons win on Thursday, they will meet the winner between No. 1 seed Gonzaga and either No. 8 Pepperdine or No. 9 Pacific at noon on Monday, Mar. 6. Visit USFDons.com/DonsInVegas for more information on the WCC Tournament.
 
Fan Guide
                                           
Promotions
Two hours prior to many men's and women's basketball game during the 2017 West Coast Conference Championships, USF will host a pre-game tailgate that is open to all Dons fans. There will be complimentary appetizers and a cash bar. Tailgates will take place in the parking lot south of the Orleans Arena. Visit USFDons.com/DonsInVegas for more information. 
 
Ticket Information
Fans looking for tickets to the tournament can check out the inventory at the Orleans Arena website or the WCC Fan Exchange. USF students can get FREE game tickets by contacting the USF Box Office at usftickets@usfca.edu.
  
Parking Information
Parking at the Orleans Arena is free of charge.