The San Francisco Dons women's basketball team represents the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

women's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

. The Dons play in the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

and their home games at the Sobrato Center's War Memorial Gymnasium, with occasional games played at

Chase Center Chase Center is an indoor arena in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It is the home of the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Golden State Valkyries of the Women's National Basketball A ...

History

San Francisco began play in 1976. Their first postseason appearance was in the 1980 AIAW National Division I Basketball Championship, losing 92–58 to BYU in the First Round. They made appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 1995, 1996, 1997, 2016, with a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1996. That year, USF (ranked as a 5 seed) beat Florida 68–61, and Duke 64–60 before losing to Connecticut 72–44. They have made the WNIT three times. They played in the NCAC from 1977 to 1982 and the NORPAC from 1982 to 1985 before joining the West Coast Conference in 1985. As of the end of the 2015–16 season, the Dons have an all-time record of 546–595. The Dons saw a major restructuring in the offseason between the 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons. Two of their graduate-level starters, Ioanna Krimili (presently the 3-point record holder at USF) and Kennedy Dickie, transferred to

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

respectively. The San Francisco Chronicle described the transfers as happening all across the West Coast Conference, both between schools and out of the conference.

Molly Goodenbour abuse allegations

In 2022, a lawsuit was filed against USF head coach Molly Goodenbour with USF named as a secondary defendant. by former players Marta and Marija Galic. The Galic sisters, both overseas student athletes from Croatia, allege that Goodenbour engaged in “archaic and abusive conduct”, highlighting an instance where Goodenbour refused to allow Marta Galic to go to the bathroom and thereby forced her to urinate on herself in front of her teammates. Marija Galic additionally stated in the filing that Goodenbour subjectged her to verbal and psychological abuse, causing her to suffer from nervous breakdowns, and that Goodenbour did not follow the proper concussion protocols. Goodenbour and USF responded to the suit by denying an intent to cause the harm the sisters described. Both further argued that the bathroom incident described by the sisters never happened. Mike Vartain, a lawyer for USF, said that Goodenbour would never want a player to urinate in their pants, and that no such prohibition on going to the bathroom without asking would exist. The scandals revolving around Goodenbour, concurrent with abuse scandals surrounding Dons baseball coach Nino Giarratano, were credited with inciting the 2022 resignation of USF's athletic director Joan McDermott. A San Francisco County Superior Court jury ruled in favor of Marija Galic, awarding her $750,000 because of “intentional infliction of emotional distress” by coach Goodenbour. The jury ruled against Marta Galic on her allegations."Ex-USF basketball player awarded $750,000 in case against school, head coach Molly Goodenbour "
Gaw Poe, July 21, 2023.

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

AIAW Division I

The Dons made one appearance in the

AIAW National Division I basketball tournament The AIAW women's basketball tournament was a national tournament for women's collegiate basketball teams in the United States, held annually from 1972 to 1982. The winners of the AIAW tournaments from 1972 to 1981 are recognized as the national ...

, with a combined record of 0–1.

AIAW Division II

The Dons made one appearance in the

AIAW National Division II basketball tournament The AIAW women's basketball tournament was a national tournament for women's collegiate basketball teams in the United States, held annually from 1972 to 1982. The winners of the AIAW tournaments from 1972 to 1981 are recognized as the national ...

, with a combined record of 0–1.

References

External links

* {{West Coast Conference women's basketball navbox