LUKAS BLANKENSTEIN / CONTRIBUTOR

USD women’s basketball started off strong by winning their first two games of the season. The wins against Biola University and Weber State University are big victories for the team, which only has five returning members on the 14- player team. The team’s victory also included the 400th career coaching win for coach Cindy Fisher. According to USD junior and forward, Courtney Wristen, this start to the season is important  in order to help the new team bond.

“Since we have a brand-new team with only five returning players and a large number of new players, the expectations going into the season were really to establish chemistry as soon as possible,” Wristen said. “Knowing this gave us confidence in our readiness and made us want to work as a team. We most certainly wanted to lay a solid foundation early on for the remainder of the season.” 

The Toreros will be looking to bounce back after a rough season last spring where the team finished 9-22 and dropped to second to last place in the conference with only four wins against conference foes. This season, the team will also need to move on without a number of key contributors, including one of last season’s guards,  Veronica  Sheffey.  Sheffey led  the team in  points  with 12.2 points per game, assists with 5.1 assists per game and steals with 1.5 steals per game before transferring to San Diego State. In addition, former forward  Kasey Neubert, who averaged close to double  digit  stats in two  categories, was  the team’s third highest scorer (10.3) and the team’s leading rebounder (9.6) before graduating. Among the returning players, Kylie Horstmeyer is the only one to have started in more than 10 games, coming second in team scoring in the process (10.3). The West Coast Conference preseason poll has predicted the Toreros to finish ninth out of 11 teams in the conference this season.

Their first game of the season was against Biola at the Jenny Craig Pavilion (JCP). The Toreros came away with a dominant 75-30 victory against the Biola Eagles. USD graduate student and guard Ava Ranson led the  team during the game   with  14 points. USD senior  forward  Truitt Reilly was  also  a key contributor, coming second in team scoring with 12 points and leading the team with seven rebounds. Both Ranson and Reilly made their Torero debut at the game after transferring from California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) this semester. Last season, CSUSM made it to the Final Four of the 2024 Division 2 NCAA tournament.

Their game on the road in Utah against Weber State was a much closer match, with the Toreros scraping by with a 66-63 win. Reilly once again proved instrumental to the team’s victory, leading the team with nine  rebounds and scoring 12 points, to go along with a team leading four  blocks on defense. Horstmeyer also led both teams in scoring with 15 points, while picking up five  rebounds. However, the hero of the game against Webber was USD junior guard Hallie Rhodes. Rhodes, who transferred from Morehead State  with her  twin sister Jayden Rhodes this semester, came off the bench to score 10 points, including   the   layup  that  allowed  USD to take a 64-63 lead with  only 36 seconds left. 

USD women’s basketball pictured celebrating each other after beating Biola University 75-30. Photo courtesy of @usdwbb/Instagram

This victory was also important  for head coach Fisher, as it was her 400th career NCAA coaching win. Fisher has been the coach of the women’s basketball team since the 2005-06 season, making this her 19th season with the Toreros. She also coached the University of Wyoming for five seasons from 1998-2003. Wristen spoke on how her coach’s achievement and experience helped the team.

“It is important to have a coach with coach Fisher’s experience,” Wristen said.  “Reaching her 400th career win inspires us to strive for success every day, which  reflects  her  love and dedication for the game.”

The  aspects of the game that have allowed USD to win their first two games has been their bench scoring and work on the fast break. Bench scoring is scoring that comes from the players who did not start the game. The  Toreros bench players have outscored their opponents 54-25, accounting for 38.3% of the Toreros  points. This scoring from the bench shows the depth of the Toreros, as they don’t rely too heavily on their starters and stars to generate  offense,  instead having a more well rounded team. 

Another   important factor for the Toreros   success  has  been their work on the fast break. A fast break is when an offensive  team attempts to move the ball quickly up the court after a change in possession, often resulting in easy points as the defensive team struggles to get back into position. The Toreros’ have been  dominant on the fast break, outscoring their opponents 43-1. The Toreros prowess on the fast  break allows them to push the tempo of the game and punish opponents for careless turnovers. In addition, only allowing one point from fast breaks shows a team that is always hustling to get back on defense after every turnover to prevent easy buckets.

USD will be looking to continue their successful start of the season on Nov. 19 against University  of   Nevada, Las Vegas.  As the   season  goes on, the Toreros  hope to continue their success and have their bench   unit   make   strong  impact.

USD junior No. 20 Hallie Rhodes goes up for a shot during the game vs Chapman University. Photo courtesy of @usdwbb/Instagram