University Southern California Trojans
USC Women Face Toledo For WNIT Championship
March 31, 2011 | Women's Basketball
March 31, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
WATCH: REST STOP IN INDIANA
THIS WEEK
The USC women have made a home for themselves on the road in the Women's National Invitation Tournament as the Trojans take on a new time zone while taking aim at their first-ever WNIT Championship. USC's program-record 18th road game of the year takes the Trojans to Toledo, Ohio, where USC (24-12) is looking to win its first postseason tournament title since the 1984 NCAA Championship when it takes a shot at host Toledo (28-8) in the WNIT final at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday (April 2).
FOLLOW ALONG
USC's WNIT title match will have live audio provided by Jason Schwartz online through the women's basketball page at usctrojans.com. Live stats will be provided by Toledo at utrockets.com. The championship game also will be televised live by CBS College Sports.
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 TOLEDO
The Rockets are 28-8 overall after beating Charlotte 83-60 in the WNIT semifinals to currently hold a 17-game home win streak. Toledo has played all of this year's WNIT games at home, beating Delaware 58-55, Auburn 67-52, Alabama 74-59 and Syracuse 71-68 in overtime in the first four WNIT rounds. The Rockets are led in scoring by Naama Shafir with 14.6 points per game, with Melissa Goodall averaging 6.9 rebounds per game. Tricia Cullop is in her third season as head coach of the Rockets, which went 14-2 in conference play to win the regular season before falling to Eastern Michigan in the MAC Tournament semifinals. Toledo is in the WNIT for the second straight season and the seventh overall. In 2010, the Rockets reached the WNIT Second Round. Toledo is currently 13-6 all-time in WNIT play and 7-2 at home thanks to that 5-0 mark on its home court in this year's WNIT to date. USC is 1-0 all-time against Toledo with the teams' only meeting coming in the 1987 Dial Classic in Long Beach, Calif., where the Trojans beat the Rockets 96-66 in the December tournament.
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 entering this year's winning run. 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 all but the first round of WNIT action, and jumping time zones and altitude changes, USC has made itself at home in postseason play. The Trojans are shooting 45 percent from the floor in the tournament, and are an even hotter 48 percent from 3-point land. That's thanks in large part to a 73-percent effort from beyond the arc by Ashley Corral, who is averaging 18.2 points per game off the bench in the tourney. More solid numbers are coming from the Trojans on the boards (41.4 rpg) with a margin of +8.8. Christina Marinacci and Jacki Gemelos are leading the rebounding charge with 8.0 and 7.0 rpg, respectively.
WNIT RUNS AT RECORDS
USC's 76.9 percent 3-point shooting effort against Colorado on March 27 set a new WNIT game record. Now, USC is on the hunt to set more WNIT records, namely tournament records. As a team, the Trojans are four defensive rebounds away from the tourney record of 154 defensive boards. Individually, Ashley Corral is three 3-pointers from the record of 22 threes made; Christina Marinacci is four offensive rebounds from the record of 20; and Jacki Gemelos is five defensive boards from the record of 35.
WNIT SEMIFINAL AT ILLINOIS STATE
USC handed Illinois State its first home loss of the year as the road warrior Trojans clamped down defensively, hauled in their fourth straight road win and secured themselves a spot in the WNIT Championship game with a 63-36 win over the Redbirds. Playing in Normal, Illinois, in the WNIT Semifinals, the Women of Troy got out ahead of the Redbirds early and kept them out of reach down the stretch in front of a crowd of over four thousand at Redbird Arena on Wednesday night. USC silenced Illinois State from the floor for almost 10 full minutes to start the game as the Trojans built up a 16-1 lead on the Redbirds. ISU would pick up the scoring pace by the close of the half, however, improving to 36 percent from the floor in the first half to trail USC's 45 percent effort as the Trojans led 30-22 at halftime thanks in part to 11 first-half points from Jacki Gemelos. The Trojan defense allowed only 14 second-half points by the Redbirds while pouring in 33 of their own. By the final buzzer, Gemelos led the way with 15 points, with Ashley Corral adding 14 and Briana Gilbreath putting in 11 while Christina Marinacci and Cassie Harberts cleaned up the boards. Marinacci finished with 13 rebounds, and Harberts hauled in 11. ISU had no players finish in double figures, with Emily Hanley scoring nine to lead ISU. USC finished out the game shooting 46 percent to ISU's 36 percent, and USC won out on the boards 47-29.
SILENCERS ON
The key to USC's last two wins in WNIT action have been some stingy defense that has overwhelmed its opponents in key stretches. At Colorado, USC held the Buffaloes to just one field goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half to come back from a first-half hole. At Illinois State, USC did similar work, holding the Redbirds to just one point in almost the first full 10 minutes of the game to build the Trojans' advantage early. At BYU, it was a slightly different story, but to similar effect, as USC crashed the boards hard and held the Cougars without a single offensive rebound for the first 14 minutes of the game.
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. Only two Pac-10 team have won a WNIT Championship to date, with Cal winning last year's crown and Oregon winning back in 2002.
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 5.5 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 1,250 career points to stand as USC's No. 14 all-time scorer. Corral now holds 1,180 career points to rank No. 17 in overall scoring, and is distancing herself as the all-time 3-point leader with 220 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 365 -- tied up with Erica Jackson at No. 8. Gilbreath stands No. 15 all-time in scoring and has served up 124 career blocks to stand 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 24-12 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 fell to Stanford in 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 Ohio, USC is 5-5 on trips outside PST, and is 14-7 in games played within the state of California; 10-5 in out-of-state games. In WNIT play, USC has played just one game in California for a 4-0 out-of state road record -- all outside PST -- in the tourney to date. With 18 games at opposing teams' gyms, USC has set a new program record for road games played in a season.
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 (14.4 ppg), Corral (12.9), Gemelos (12.3) and Harberts (10.1) 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 6.8 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 12.3 points per game and is shooting 43 percent from 3-point range.
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.
