SAN FRANCISCO – The USF women's basketball team is finally back on the Hilltop after a 10-day multi-city Italian excursion.
 
The European tour included three games against professional European teams. The Dons went 1-2 in an excellent pre-season tune up for the squad. The trip concluded yesterday as the team touched down around 9 pm.
 
In the final few days of the trip, the Dons travelled to Trieste, a city of about 200,000 people on the coast of the Adriatic Sea in northeastern Italy, and a few natural landmarks including Lake Como.
 
Sophomore Ninni Salmi's gave her take on their time in Trieste:
 
"On Sunday we spent most of the day walking around Trieste, shopping or dipping our toes into the blue waves of the Adriatic. The city had a lot of elevation and stairs, so sightseeing was a bit of a workout. Just like in San Francisco, the views were always worth the climb. Trieste had beautiful castles and churches and we happened to walk by several Catholic masses, it was Sunday morning after all."
 
Later that evening, the Dons had their first match up against FSG Academy, a Holland professional club. Starters included Anna Seilund, Salmi, Kalyn Simon, Michaela Rakova, and Shannon Powell. In the first occasion that the team played together since last year, the American visitors suffered a loss.
 
USF turned around to take on TK Hannover in the second game of the trip. In a close contest, the Dons fell to the team out of Germany, 40-37. Starters were the same as the first match – Seilund, Salmi, Simon, Rakova and Powell.
 
Ravoka led the Dons with a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds). Simon added six points, while Salmi, Powell and Seilund each tallied four. Seilund also registered 11 boards in the loss.
 
The Dons finished the trip on a high note with a dominating 100-33 win over Inter Muggia. After the game, the Italian hosts catered a meat-filled supper outside the gym.
 
In the team's final day in Italy, they explored the city of Como. Veronica Preciado detailed their adventures below:
 
"Waking up to the beautiful scenery every morning felt like we were living in paradise, even though the entire trip was like a dream come true. A couple of us set off early in the day and went shopping, of course getting a gelato to end the day.
 
The next day in Como was quite interesting. We had a boat tour of the lake in the morning, right after the delicious breakfast provided to us by the hotel (those croissants were to die for)! While being on the water we passed by George Clooney's lake house, unfortunately we did not get to see him. Our boat tour ended in Bellagio where we had an hour to shop and explore this little island city, I have to admit it was pretty cool. On our way back from Bellagio, we decided to take over the tour guides microphone, with her permission of course, and started a sing-a-long/rap battle boat ride."
 
Before returning stateside, the women's team had the opportunity to attend a class with their traveling professor, Susan Stryker. Sophomore forward Dagny McConnell reflected on the class in a blog post:
 
"Stryker held short classes with us throughout the trip where we discussed the diversity, and things we liked and disliked about the country. The main objective of the class was to find a product or service that was not already in the United States and create a business plan to introduce it back home. There were many ideas from Ice Bars to dog-friendly grocery stores or barbecue lake toys. All of which we talked about the pros and cons to bringing them to America and where these businesses would succeed."
 
Now that the squad is back in the Bay Area, the countdown to the USF's women's basketball team's home opener has begun!
 
Their first game will be at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center against Cal Poly on Nov. 11. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. Check out the rest of the Don's 2017-18 schedule here.
 
Season tickets for the upcoming season can be purchased for as low as $75 for general admission. For fans looking to get closer to the action, a baseline season ticket is available for $100 for the entire home slate, plus a $50 seat donation. And for those looking to be up close and personal, the court side ticket for $150, plus a $50 seat donation is the way to go.

USF is excited to offer a Recent Alumni discount that gives USF alumni who graduated within the last 10 years HALF OFF their season ticket purchase of court side or baseline seats. The full seat donation would still apply. 
 
Complete information on women's basketball season tickets can be found by contacting the USF athletic department ticket office at (415) 422-2USF, via e-mail at USFTickets@usfca.edu or by visiting the USF ticket website.