Basketball Teams Set for March's WCC Tournament in Las Vegas

Basketball Teams Set for March's WCC Tournament in Las Vegas

Duda Sanadze

The calendar has flipped to March and that means only one thing to the University of San Diego men’s and women’s basketball programs — win. Both teams head to Las Vegas and the Orleans Arena this week for the West Coast Conference Tournament where the objective is to win games, reach the title game and win it to earn the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

The women’s team, led by 11th year head coach Cindy Fisher, senior Malina Hood and her sister, junior Maya Hood, brings a 23-6 overall record into Thursday’s 6 p.m. WCC Tournament quarterfinal game against the University of San Francisco (18-11). The Toreros are the No. 3 seed and the Dons are the sixth seed. The teams split their regular season series. The winner of Thursday’s game advances to a semifinal game March 7 at noon. The women’s title game is March 8 at 1 p.m. and it will be broadcast on ESPNU.

Meanwhile, first-year USD men’s basketball head coach, Lamont Smith, and his team, led by seniors Jito Kok and Duda Sanadze, open the men’s WCC Tournament at 6 p.m. Friday against No. 8 seed Loyola Marymount. USD, the ninth seed, enters the game with a 9-20 overall record. The Toreros split their two regular-season meetings with the Lions (13-16). The USD-LMU winner advances to a 7 p.m. quarterfinal game on March 5 against top seed St. Mary’s. If USD reaches the semifinal round, it would be played at 6 p.m. on March 7. The WCC men’s title game is slated for 6 p.m. March 8 and will be shown on ESPN.

WCC Hall of Honor Inducting USD’s Erpelding

In addition to USD’s participation in the tournament games, one of the all-time standout for the USD women’s basketball program, Susie Erpelding Barosso (1995-2000), will be inducted into the West Coast Conference Hall of Honor on Saturday, March 5 at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas.

Erpelding is part of 2016’s 10-person WCC Hall of Honor class. Joining her are BYU's Dylann Duncan Ceriani (women’s volleyball), Gonzaga’s Mike Redmond (baseball), Loyola Marymount’s Kate Dunn (Murray) (basketball), Pacific’s Ron Cornelius (basketball), Pepperdine’s Maureen Formico-Caloiaro (basketball), Portland’s Bill Krueger (baseball and basketball), Saint Mary’s David Vann (basketball), San Francisco’s Bill Cartwright (basketball) and Santa Clara’s Randy Winn (baseball and basketball).

Photos courtesy of USD Athletics