USD Women's Basketball 2003-2004

/ ' Seniors go out setting career marks while young Toreros rove that thefuture is bright ~ / The San Diego women's basketball 2002-03 season bid a fond farewell to four seniors who played major roles in building the USD program and wel– comed four freshmen who demonstrated the Toreros will continue to rise to the top of the WCC. After battling injuries and inexperience for much of the season, the Toreros put together a season-ending run in the WCC Tournament that sent the seniors out on a high note and gave everyone around USD high hopes for the future. USD opened the season by beating Long

Beach St. 73-58 on the road and coming home to shut down Denver with a suffocating defense in a 56-37 win in their home opener. The non-confer- {1-r) Kerri Nakamoto & Erin Malich ence season was highlighted with a 72-53 win over cross-town rival San Diego State and a 76-66 road win over a Dayton team that was receiving top 25 votes at the time . The Toreros' WCC season saw USD upset 2 nd place Santa Clara 80-77 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion and sweep an excellent San Francisco team both home and away.

USD finished the conference season 5-9 and received the #5 seed in the WCC Tournament. The Toreros pounded St. Mary's 69-56 in the first round and beat San Francisco for the 3 rd time during the season in a 66-54 quarterfinal game. USD then met #l seed Pepperdine in the semifinals. USD was playing their third game in 3 days versus a fresh Pepperdine team and gave the conference champs a great run. USD lead by 11 points early, but its efforts fell short, 62-53, to end the USD run at the title. San Diego senior Erin Malich led the team in scoring by averaging 15.1 points per game and finishing the season as the 3 rd leading scorer and 5 th leading rebounder in the West Coast Conference. Erin was rewarded by being named to the WCC All-Conference team by the conference coaches and was voted USD's Most Valuable Player by her team– mates and coaching staff. Malich ended her career as the 6 th leading scorer in USD history with 1071 points, passing the 1000 point milestone during a 23 point performance at Port- land on February 27, 2003. Erin's career numbers also place

Jamie Corwin

her as the 6 th leading shot-blocker and 10 th leading rebounder in the USD career record books. Senior Kerri Nakamoto ended a brilliant career as the 5 th leading scorer in-USD history with 1098 points. She eclipsed the 1000 point milestone during a 17 point performance in a 65-61 win over Loyola Marymount at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on January 16, 2003. During her senior season, Nakamoto pushed her USD record for three pointers made to 200 and narrowly missed breaking former high school and college teammate Melissa Glazebrook's career assist record.