SAN FRANCISCO — The University of San Francisco women's basketball team will look to make history in a multitude of ways Saturday when it hosts No. 3/3 Stanford for the first-ever college basketball game at the brand new Chase Center in downtown San Francisco.
 
THE LOWDOWN
Bay Area neighbors San Francisco (1-0) and No. 3/3 Stanford (1-0) meet for the 33rd time Saturday in the first-ever college basketball game at Chase Center, the brand-new, state-of-the-art downtown San Francisco arena built as the home of the six-time World Champion Golden State Warriors of the NBA.
 
Both teams enter with unbeaten records in the young 2019-20 campaign after winning their season openers on Tuesday. Stanford leads the all-time series, 23-9, with 18 consecutive wins over USF. The Dons are looking for their first win over the Cardinal since the 1983-84 season.
 
ABOUT STANFORD
The No. 3/3 Cardinal (1-0) won its season-opening game on Tuesday at home over Eastern Washington, 92-27. Three freshmen led the way for the Cardinal in their collegiate debuts, with Francesca Belibi tallying a double-double (12 points, 15 rebounds). Stanford held the Eagles to just 14.1% shooting, its best defensive effort in that category in at least 19 years.
 
The Cardinal is the No. 3 team in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches' first polls of the year. It has reached 12 consecutive NCAA Tournament Sweet 16s and has been to the Elite Eight in three of the last four years.
 
LAST TIME OUT
San Francisco won its season opener for the sixth year in a row Tuesday with a come-from-behind, 90-83, victory on the road at Northern Colorado. The Dons scored 31 points in the fourth quarter alone, going on a decisive 15-2 run midway through to overcome a six-point deficit.
 
The game featured big performances from several brand-new Dons – rookies and veterans alike. Freshman guard Ioanna Krimili splashed onto the college basketball scene with 32 points in her collegiate debut. USF's game-winning run in the fourth was started and ended by new veterans in the lineup. Graduate transfer Mikayla Williams, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds off the bench, started it with a layup, and fellow grad transfer Dolapo Balogun hit her first 3-pointer in the green and gold to cap the run and put the Dons up 79-72.
 
FAMILIAR FACES
The basketball family lines run deep from the South Bay to The Hilltop. Stanford head Coach Tara VanDerveer was in charge of the Cardinal when San Francisco head coach Molly Goodenbour was a player there from 1989-93, as well as USF associate head coach Katy Steding (1986-90). Under VanDerveer, Goodenbour won two national championships (1990, '92) and was named the 1992 Final Four MVP. Steding was a part of the 1990 national championship team and also won an Olympic gold medal alongside VanDerveer as a part of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team. Former USF women's basketball head coach Jennifer Azzi also played under VanDerveer.
 
"KAN'T STOP KRIMILI"
Ioanna Krimili showed no reservations in her first-ever college basketball game Tuesday. Her 32 points were the second-most scored by any player in the nation on the season's opening night. It was the most points scored by a Don since Dec. 15, 2017, when Anna Seilund scored 34 versus Sacramento State. And it was the most points by any Don in a season opener in at least the last nine years (since 2011-12). She went 18 for 20 from the free-throw line, made two 3-pointers, and was clutch down the stretch, making 7 of 8 free throws in the final 39 seconds.
 
GOODENBOUR COACHING MILESTONES
San Francisco head coach Molly Goodenbour is nearing two big milestones of total games coached in her career. Saturday's game versus Stanford will be her 95th game as the Dons' head coach, leaving her only five more away from 100 on The Hilltop. She also currently has 398 total games coached in her 14-year career. Nov. 16th's home game versus CSUN will be Goodenbour's 400th as a collegiate head coach.
 
COMING UP
The Dons stay in The City and rest for seven days before hosting their first games of the year on The Hilltop on Nov. 16 and 18 against CSUN and Idaho, respectively. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.