University of San Francisco Athletics

SAN FRANCISCO — The West Coast Conference season continues this week in Southern California for the University of San Francisco women's basketball team, as the Dons play their first conference road games of the year when they face Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles on Thursday and Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif., on Saturday afternoon.
 
GAME 15 INFORMATION
Date/Time: Jan. 10, 2019 – 7:00 p.m.
Opponent: Loyola Marymount (9-7, 2-2 WCC)
Site: War Memorial at the Sobrato Center
Live Video: https://bit.ly/2H2tNqI
Live Stats: https://bit.ly/2VG60QD
 
GAME 16 INFORMATION
Date/Time: Jan. 12, 2019 – 2:00 p.m.
Opponent: Pepperdine (8-6, 2-2 WCC)
Site: War Memorial at the Sobrato Center
Live Video: https://bit.ly/2LZD9Ct
Live Stats: https://bit.ly/2RH9AdY
 
USF AT A GLANCE

• San Francisco (5-9, 1-2) lost another close game on Saturday, falling in overtime to South Bay rival Santa Clara, 71-66. The Dons have dropped their last two WCC games by just single digits and led both of them (BYU, Santa Clara) at halftime and in the second half.
   
• As conference season has come around, the defense has ratcheted up. After scoring at least 75 points in three of four games from Dec. 5-21, the Dons have not surpassed the 70-point plateau in their last three. But they have also themselves held opponents to 71 points or less in four of their last five games, the lone exception being a double-overtime contest versus North Dakota on Dec. 21.
   
• Senior guard Shannon Powell remains one of only two players in the WCC to be ranked among the conference's top-12 in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals per game. Powell is tied for third in scoring (16.6 ppg), 12th in rebounding (6.1 rpg), tied for second in assists (4.4 apg) and tied for fifth in steals (2.2 spg). The other player is Pacific's Valerie Higgins (fifth in scoring, first in rebounding, tied for 12th in assists, first in steals).
   
• San Francisco has been edged in both of its overtime contests this season, falling 100-97 in double overtime to North Dakota on Dec. 21 and getting clipped by Santa Clara, 71-66, on Saturday. The Dons won their lone overtime game last season, beating BYU, 76-73, in double overtime on Feb. 10.
   
• The Dons got back on the boards in their last two games. After being outrebounded in five of their previous six contests, San Francisco matched BYU on the glass, 39-39, and then outrebounded Santa Clara, 35-34, on Saturday. Ironically, San Francisco is just 2-4 this season when outrebounding its opponent while going 3-4 when getting outrebounded.

ABOUT THE LIONS
Loyola Marymount (9-7, 2-2 WCC) started the 2018-19 campaign with a 7-2 record that included two wins over Pac-12 programs (UCLA, Arizona), but it has lost four of its last six games. The Lions split their first four WCC matchups, beating last-place Portland and second-to-last San Diego while falling to first-place teams Gonzaga and BYU. LMU is 5-2 at Gersten Pavilion this season, winning four of its last five on home court.
 
Three Lions average double-digit points, led by Gabby Green's 15.2 points per game. Bree Alford is the team's best rebounder with 8.4 boards per game – second-best in the WCC. The Lions score the second-least amount of points per game in the WCC (62.0) but are also the fourth-best scoring defense, limiting opponents to 63.2 points per game. Part of that is thanks to their conference-leading 3-point field goal defense that holds opponents to just 28.3 percent from behind the arc.
 
ABOUT THE WAVES
Pepperdine (8-6, 2-2 WCC), like its Pacific Coast Highway rival LMU, split its first four WCC games with wins over USD and Portland and defeats at the hand of conference leaders BYU and Gonzaga. The Waves have played just three home games this season, posting a 2-1 record with two of those three home contests coming just two weeks ago to start WCC play.
 
Yasmine Robinson-Bacote is the conference's leading scorer at 18.5 points per game. Barbara Sitanggan helps run the Pepperdine offense with a team-best 4.2 assists per game. She also logs 2.2 steals per contest and shoots 86.4 percent from the free-throw line – all top-six marks in the WCC. The Dons will face another top-three 3 -point defending team on Saturday, with the Waves ranking third in the WCC by holding opponents to 29.9 percent from deep.
 
LAST GAME VS. THE BRONCOS
San Francisco held leads in every period Saturday – even the extra one – but visiting Santa Clara held a lead when it mattered most, closing the game on a 9-2 run in overtime to survive the Dons and win, 71-66, in a West Coast Conference clash at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
 
San Francisco led by as much as seven in the fourth quarter and 15 out of the gate in the third, but all of that went away as Santa Clara hit six 3-pointers in the second half and forced 13 USF turnovers to erase its deficits. The Broncos' biggest 3 came in the waning seconds of regulation. Lindsey VanAllen received an inbounds pass from Joseta Fatuesi at the top of the arc and immediately threw up the deep attempt, watching it hit nothing but net to tie the game at 60-60. The Dons took a 64-62 lead to start overtime with back-to-back baskets from Powell and Nia Alexander, but they wouldn't score again until there was just 4.4 seconds left in OT.
 
UP NEXT
San Francisco returns to War Memorial at the Sobrato Center next week to host a couple of Northern California foes. The Dons welcome East Bay rival Saint Mary's at 7 p.m. on Jan. 17, then host Pacific at noon on Jan. 19. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.