University Southern California Trojans
USC Women Surge Into WNIT Semis
March 28, 2011 | Women's Basketball
March 28, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK
The USC women continue their WNIT road run with a journey out of the mountain zone and into central time. Holding the most wins recorded in a season since 1993-94, the Trojans ride a powerful four-game win streak into this week's WNIT Semifinals, where USC (23-12) will pay a visit to Illinois State (24-10) for a semifinal showdown in Normal, Ill., on Wednesday (March 30) at 7:05 p.m. CT. The winner rolls into the WNIT Championship against either Charlotte or Toledo on Saturday (April 2) at 3 p.m. ET to play for the rights to the postseason crown.
FOLLOW ALONG
USC's WNIT games will have live audio provided by Jason Schwartz online through the women's basketball page at usctrojans.com. Live stats will be provided by the host sites, with links available through the USC schedule page at usctrojans.com. Wednesday's USC-Illinois State game will be streamed live by goredbirds.com.
IN THE NATION
USC was not ranked in the final March 14 national polls but entered the postseason with an RPI of 44 in playing the 25th toughest schedule in the nation (as ranked by CollegeRPI.com).
SCOUTING ISU
The Redbirds are 24-10 overall after beating Arkansas 60-49 in the quarterfinals. ISU also beat Central Michigan 72-59, Wisconsin 62-59 and Duquesne 79-66 in the first three WNIT rounds. The Redbirds are led in scoring by Emily Hanley with 14.3 points per game. Stephanie Glance is in her first season as head coach at ISU, which went 28-8 last season in reaching the WNIT semifinals. This year, the Redbirds went 12-6 in conference play and lost in their first MVC Tournament game to Indiana State before making their third straight WNIT trip with this year's selection. Illinois State is making its third straight and 10th overall appearance in the Postseason WNIT and has a 18-15 all-time record in the tournament. The Redbirds are in the WNIT for the fourth time in the past five seasons, posting a 12-3 record during that span. ISU is 10-1 all-time in WNIT games in Redbird Arena, including a 3-0 mark in home WNIT games this year. USC is 1-1 all-time against Illinois State. USC won the first in 1981-82 in a 92-73 victory at Golden West College, and the Redbirds won the next in the 1988 Buckeye Classic with a 76-59 decision.
POSTSEASON PICK `EM
USC had held an RPI of 44 and boasted the 25th toughest schedule in the nation, but still came up short of NCAA action after taking three losses in its last six games, including two to Arizona, which also did not get a spot in the NCAA tournament. USC had wins over three teams picked for NCAA play -- conference champions Fresno State, Georgia and Gonzaga -- and lost to tournament teams Arizona State, Duke, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA and Xavier. USC's only losses to non-NCAA tournament teams came to Arizona and California. Both those teams moved into the WNIT as well. The Trojans entered the WNIT with the second-best RPI of the bunch, with Florida just a notch ahead with an RPI of 43 and sitting on the opposite corner of the WNIT bracket.
INJURY REPORT
USC freshman forward Thaddesia Southall is redshirting this season due to an ACL injury sustained before arriving at USC. Two current Women of Troy -redshirted last season due to knee injuries -- G Stefanie Gilbreath and F Michelle Jenkins. Gilbreath returned to action for USC's season opener against Gonzaga on Nov. 12, but was sidelined as of Dec. 17 by a foot injury. Gilbreath returned on Feb. 6, and Jenkins returned on Feb. 10. On Feb. 24, Gilbreath sustained new injury to her same right foot, and has been sidelined once again.
BACK IN THE WNIT
USC has made two previous appearances (2000 and 2002) in the WNIT for a 2-2 all-time record in the postseason tournament. On the road for all four games, USC beat Santa Clara 71-64 and lost to Colorado State 66-56 in 2000, and beat San Francisco 72-53 before falling to Washington 97-87 in 2002.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
The Trojans finished last season with a 19-12 overall record, and had also missed out on an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. USC had finished third in the Pac-10 at 12-6.
WNIT ROAD WARRIORS
Despite hitting the road for three of its first four WNIT games, and playing at altitude for those three road trips, USC has made itself at home in postseason play. The Trojans are shooting 44 percent from the floor in the tournament, and are an even hotter 49 percent from 3-point land. That's thanks in large part to a 77-percent effort from beyond the arc by Ashley Corral, who is averaging 19.3 points per game off the bench in the tourney. More solid numbers are coming from the Trojans on the boards (40 rpg) with a margin of +6.5. Jacki Gemelos and Christina Marinacci are leading the rebounding charge with 7.0 and 6.8 rpg, respectively.
WNIT QUARTERFINAL AT COLORADO
USC used the thin air to its advantage in Boulder, Colo., going 10-of-13 from 3-point land to pass up host Colorado for an 87-70 win in the WNIT Quarterfinals. Ashley Corral's hot hand at altitude hit a career-high seven 3-pointers for the Trojans on the way to a 32-point day by the junior guard. Her first career 30-point outing was the most points scored by a Trojan since 1997, and makes her just the third USC player to score 30 points or more in a postseason tournament game. USC was down by two at halftime and trailed by five in the second half on an early 3-pointer from Colorado's Brittany Spears, who finished with 36 points in the game. That would be the only field goal to fall for the Buffaloes in the first 10 minutes of the half, however, as the Trojans tightened up their defense and started pouring in the points to take a lead with 16:42 to go and keep cruising out of reach of their hosts. USC set a program record for 3-point percentage in a game (77 percent) with at least 10 attempts from beyond the arc, led by Corral's 7-of-8 effort on threes. Her 32 points was joined by 20 from Jacki Gemelos, who nailed the other three 3-pointers for the Trojans. Cassie Harberts and Kari LaPlante each scored 10 points and matched each other with five offensive rebounds apiece to help anchor a USC rebounding effort that overpowered Colorado 46-26 in the game. USC shot 47 percent from the floor overall to outpace Colorado's 41 percent. The Buffaloes had been undefeated when leading at halftime this year, but the Trojans dashed that stat with their comeback victory.
CONFERENCE CROSSOVERS
USC had three Pac-10 teams in its quarter of the 2011 WNIT bracket, but only the Trojans have managed to go deep in the tourney. Arizona was the automatic qualifier into WNIT action as the highest finishing Pac-10 team outside the NCAA bubble this season. Defending WNIT champion California also was on a possible collision course with the Trojans. USC could have met the Wildcats in the WNIT Third Round for the teams' fourth matchup this year, but Arizona lost to Utah State in the First Round. The Bears, meanwhile, were bounced by future conference-mate Colorado in the Second Round, and the Trojans would go on to dispatch the Buffaloes in the WNIT Quarterfinals for their second win over Colorado this season.
SENIOR STRENGTH
USC's seniors are playing in their final games at Galen Center this week, and at the head of the class is 6-foot-5 senior center Kari LaPlante -- one of only two true seniors on the USC roster. She and Michelle Franco were USC's lone freshmen in 2007 and will finish their careers having split time between two different coaching staffs at Troy. Under the defensive-minded Cooper's guidance last year as a junior, LaPlante picked up accolades with Pac-10 All-Defensive Honorable Mention. After scoring 10 points at Colorado, LaPlante is currently averaging 5.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as USC's starting center.
JOINING THE CLUB
Junior guards Ashley Corral and Briana Gilbreath have been close in stride with one another on the path to a remarkable milestone in the USC history books. USC's two top scorers passed up the 900-point mark early in the season, with Gilbreath crossing the line first with her 17-point outing against Stanford on Jan. 22. She became the 22nd player to hit the 1,000-point benchmark as a Trojan. On Feb. 10 at Oregon State, Corral joined the club as well, going for 14 points to break the 1,000-point barrier, while also establishing herself as USC's all-time leader in career 3-pointers thanks to four threes hit in that game. Gilbreath now sits at 1,239 career points to stand as USC's No. 14 all-time scorer. Corral now holds 1,166 career points to rank No. 18 in overall scoring, and is distancing herself as the all-time 3-point leader with 218 made to date.
JUNIOR NATION
While Ashley Corral and Briana Gilbreath have been climbing up the career scoring ladder, the Trojan tandem has also jumped into the USC history books in a couple other categories as well. In addition to being USC's No. 18 scorer and top 3-point shooter, Corral now ranks No. 9 all-time in career assists with 362 -- three shy of Erica Jackson at No. 8. Gilbreath stands No. 15 all-time in scoring and has served up 123 career blocks now to stand alone at No. 6 on that career list, ahead of Trojan greats Ebony Hoffman and Pam McGee.
CASSIE TURNS 30
Not only is Cassie Harberts the only Trojan to have started all 34 of USC's games this season, she also became the first Trojan to score 30 points or more in a game since 2007 when she poured in 31 against WSU in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament. That effort is the best by a freshman since 1981, when Paula McGee scored 31 against Long Beach State on March 14, 1981. Harberts stands as one of five USC freshmen to score 30 points or more in a game, joining the elite company of Kathy Hammond (1977), Pam and Paula McGee (1981), Cheryl Miller (1982) and Lisa Leslie (1991). Overall, Harberts became the 16th Trojan ever to score 30 points or more in a game.
CORRAL CREATES 32 OUT OF THIN AIR
Ashley Corral solidified another spot for herself in the USC record books in becoming the 17th Trojan ever to hit 30 points in a single game. Her 32-point outing at Colorado in the WNIT Quarterfinals -- where she hit a career-best 7-of-8 threes and shot a career-high 10-of-15 (.667) from the floor -- was the most points scored by a Trojan since Tina Thompson hit 32 in 1997. Corral is now one of just three players to score 30 or more in a postseason tournament.
THE BEST SINCE...
USC's strong start to the season had the Trojans holding numbers the program hadn't hit in over a decade. USC's 8-3 record going into Pac-10 play marked the best such winning percentage since the 1994-95 season, when USC was 7-1 entering conference play. And USC's 10-3 overall record through their first two Pac-10 games solidified the Trojans' best overall start since 1993-94, when USC held a 17-1 record before taking its first Pac-10 loss. In moving to a 12-4 mark after two more wins at Galen, USC pulled even with its 2004-05 record at this stage in the season. That year, USC turned a 6-4 record into a seven-game win streak. Now with a 23-12 overall record, the Trojans hold the most wins in a season since 1993-94 when USC won the Pac-10 title and reached the NCAA Mideast Regional Final to finish 26-4 overall.
RANK AND FILE
The Trojans turned some heads in the early goings of the season in serving up upsets of two ranked teams in USC's first four games. The Women of Troy opened the year with a 79-73 win over No. 22 Gonzaga and later handed out a 71-63 win over No. 17 Georgia. Both those wins came at the Galen Center, where USC has gone 13-4 overall this season. On the road against two top-10 teams, USC took a 75-50 loss at No. 4 Duke and a tight 69-66 loss at No. 4 Xavier during nonconference play. With losses to the Pac-10's two highly ranked teams --- UCLA and Stanford -- the Trojans were 2-6 on the year against ranked opponents. One of those wins was an early-season victory over Gonzaga, which is now heading to the NCAA Elite Eight.
ROAD RUNNERS
Thanks to three straight WNIT road wins, USC is now 10-8 overall in road games this season, including a 1-1 split in neutral territory. Up until the trip through Fresno and Washington state, the Trojans had spent half their time outside the Pacific Time Zone, venturing into Eastern Time for games at Duke and NC State and the Vanderbilt Tournament to go along with a quick visit to Central Time to face Xavier. One the way into this week's venture to Illinois, USC is 4-5 on trips outside PST, and is 14-7 in games played within the state of California; 9-5 in out-of-state games.
ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS
The USC roster is loaded up with six All-American honorees. Five returning players were McDonald's All-Americans on their way into Troy: Ashley Corral, Jacki Gemelos, Briana Gilbreath, Stefanie Gilbreath and Christina Marinacci. Also coming in with All-American accolades is WBCA honoree Cassie Harberts, who kicked off her career as a Trojan with a 16-point outing in her USC debut. For the first time in five seasons, USC started the season with all its All-Americans healthy and on the court. This year's crew accounts for 84 percent of USC's scoring. Briana Gilbreath (14.5 ppg), Corral (12.8), Gemelos (12.2) and Harberts (10.2) are all averaging in double figures to date, with Marinacci not far behind at 8.3 ppg, and Stefanie Gilbreath averaging 3.4 ppg in her 13 appearances. Marinacci also is No. 2 in rebounds, hauling in 6.7 rpg to date.
JACKI'S BACK
After almost four years on the sidelines with knee injuries, Jacki Gemelos -- a high school All-American and the nation's top recruit as a freshman in 2006 -- took to the court for the first game action of her Trojan career on Feb. 4, 2010 at Cal. She already has completed her undergraduate degree, but this week, she's playing in the first USC season opener of her career. Now currently pursuing a master's in gerontology, Gemelos has started her first full season of competition healthy and strong. Gemelos has been granted one more season of eligibility after this 2010-11 season. Gemelos is the team's third leading scorer with 12.2 points per game and is shooting 43 percent from 3-point range.
PAC-10 TOURNAMENT RECAP
USC rode the wave of freshman Cassie Harberts' 31 points and 14 rebounds through the first round of Pac-10 Tournament play as the Trojans topped Washington State 78-66 on Wednesday night at the Galen Center. It was an important victory for USC, improving the Trojans to a 19-11 overall record and earning USC a spot in the quarterfinal against Arizona. Harberts' 31 points is the most scored by a Trojan since 2006, when Shay Murphy hit 33 in a win at Colorado. Even more noteworthy, she is the first Trojan freshman to score 31 points since 1981, when Paula McGee scored 31 against Long Beach State almost 31 years ago to date -- on March 14, 1981. Harberts' double-double was the third of her career, as she was joined in double figures by fellow Women of Troy Jacki Gemelos with 13 points and Kari LaPlante with 10. WSU got 11 points apiece from Katie Madison and Jazmine Perkins. USC put forth a concerted effort on the boards in outrebounding the Cougars 49-33 in the game while outshooting WSU with a 43 percent outing from the floor, ahead of the Cougars' 35 percent. WSU hit 11 threes in the game while USC forced its way to the free-throw line, hitting 24-of-31 from the stripe while the Cougars shot 9-of-13. In the quarterfinals vs. Arizona, USC was better on the boards, but Arizona was better from the floor as the Wildcats handed the Trojans a 72-61 loss. The Women of Troy were within reach at halftime, but Arizona's perimeter attack pulled the Wildcats ahead. It was the first time this season that USC has outrebounded an opponent and lost the game. Christina Marinacci led all with 13 rebounds in the game to help the Trojans to a 46-36 advantage in that stat line. But Arizona shot 49 percent from the floor and 53 percent (7-of-13) from 3-point range to work past the Trojans, who finished up 31 percent from the floor and 25 percent (3-of-12) from beyond the arc. Arizona's Davellyn Whyte hit five threes for a game-high 24 points, and Soana Lucet added 20 for the Wildcats to go with Ify Ibekwe's 13 points and 11 rebounds. USC's offense was charged up by 16 points from Briana Gilbreath, with Gemelos adding 11 and Harberts hitting 10 for the Trojans.
LAST YEAR
Under first-year collegiate head coach Michael Cooper -- a former NBA star with the Los Angeles Lakers and a WNBA head coach for the Los Angeles Sparks -- USC finished 19-12 overall and carried a six-game winning streak into the Pac-10 Tournament semifinals. With Cooper's guidance, the Women of Troy set several new program records in that 2009-10 season, posting USC's best-ever free-throw percentage (.725) while tallying the fewest turnovers (462) and fewest fouls (484) committed in Trojan history.
