SAN FRANCISCO — The West Coast Conference second half gets under way Saturday in the South Bay for the San Francisco women's basketball team, as the Dons travel down to face rival Santa Clara for an afternoon affair at the Leavey Center.
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GAME 21 INFORMATION
Date/Time: Feb. 2, 2019 – 2 p.m.
Opponent: Santa Clara (10-10, 3-6 WCC)
Site: Santa Clara, Calif. (Leavey Center)
Live Video: https://bit.ly/2MLmdQj
Live Audio: http://bit.ly/2OOiKjs
Live Stats: https://bit.ly/2Gg1VNQ
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ABOUT THE DONS
- San Francisco (5-15, 1-8 WCC) has lost eight straight, but the Dons have not gone without competing day in and day out. USF has held leads in 12 of its 15 losses, including halftime leads in seven of them. San Francisco has been within 10 or less points in 10 of 15 defeats.
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- Youth has been the name of the game for the Dons through the first half of this season and conference play. Five true freshmen are among the top six minute-getters for USF. Five different true freshmen have made their first career starts this season, while three of them have already made 10 or more starts in USF's 20 games.
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- The Dons' ball handling is improving. USF has the same amount or less turnovers than its opponent in three of the last four games. They've also had 14 or more assists in each of the last three contests.
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- After matching or outrebounding its opponent on the boards in five of six games, USF was outrebounded by nine in each of its road games last week in the Pacific Northwest at then-No. 18/17 Gonzaga and Portland. San Francisco is 2-7 this season when outrebounding its opponent.
ABOUT SANTA CLARA
The Broncos (10-10, 3-6 WCC) split their two road games last week, beating Portland but falling to No. 18/17 Gonzaga. Santa Clara has split its first 20 games at an even 10-10, only once going on a winning or losing streak that lasted more than two games. The Broncos have lost four straight at home after starting the year 5-1 at the Leavey Center.
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Tia Hay is the Broncos' leading scorer at 15.6 points per game (t-6th in WCC). She's also made a team-high 32 3-pointers, though the team shoots a conference-low 28.4 percent from deep. The Broncos boast one of the top-three scoring defenses in the conference, limiting opponents to 64.6 ppg. But they also struggle with the WCC's worst scoring offense at just 60.8 points per
contest. The Broncos lead the conference in blocks per game at 4.2, thanks in large part to individual conference leader Lauren Yearwood's 2.5 per game.
COMING UP
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The Dons host Southern California foes Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount on Thursday and Feb. 9, respectively. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.
