University Southern California Trojans
March 08, 2011 | Women's Basketball
March 8, 2011
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THIS WEEK
The postseason begins in Los Angeles once again, with the USC women set up on their home court for the opening rounds of the 2011 Pacific Life Pac-10 Tournament. The Trojans (18-11) are the No. 5 seed into this year's tournament, which takes on a different structure from past seasons. The top two seeds -- Stanford and UCLA -- earn two byes to await their opponents in the semifinal round at Staples Center. Meanwhile, the other eight teams do battle at the Galen Center beginning Wednesday (March 9). USC will face No. 8 seed Washington State (8-22) at 5 p.m. on Wednesday for the right to move to a 5:15 p.m. quarterfinal clash against either No. 4 seed Arizona (19-10) or No. 9 Oregon (13-16) on Thursday (Match 10) at Galen Center. The next two rounds move over to the Staples Center where the competition for the conference crown and an automatic NCAA tournament seed continues with Friday semifinals (12 and 2:30 p.m.) and Saturday championship (11:30 a.m).
FOUR WOMEN OF TROY EARN ALL-PAC-!0 HONORS
FOLLOW ALONG
USC's tournament games will have live audio provided by Jason Schwartz online through the women's basketball page at usctrojans.com. Live video of the Wednesday and Thursday games will be streamed by the Pac-10 Conference through www.pac.10.org. The semifinal and championship games at Staples Center will be televised live by FSN. Live stats for all games also will be available through the Pac-10 site.
IN THE NATION
USC is not ranked in this week's polls and holds an RPI of 39. Stanford ranks No. 2 in the nation, and UCLA ranks No. 7.
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 one again.
SEEDINGS
Conference champion Stanford (27-2, 18-0 Pac-10) is the top seed into the Pac-10 Tournament for the 11th straight season. UCLA (26-3, 16-2) is the No. 2 seed ahead of third-seeded Arizona State (19-9, 11-7). Arizona (19-10, 10-8) edged out USC for the No. 4 seed to put the Trojans (18-11, 10-8) at No. 5. Cal (15-14, 7-11) earned the No. 6 seed, while Washington (11-16, 6-12) takes No. 7 thanks to a head-to-head win over Washington State (8-22, 6-12), who gets No. 8. Oregon (13-16, 4-14) finishes at No. 9, and Oregon State (9-20, 2-16) is No. 10.
TOURNEY TIME
USC took the No. 5 seed into this year's Pac-10 Tournament with a 10-8 finish in conference play, locked up in fourth place with Arizona but missed the tiebreak advantage because of the Wildcats' win over ASU. USC has two comeback wins until its belt after the final weekend of regular-season action and has the bonus of playing at home -- where the Trojans are 11-3 overall this year -- to start this Pac-10 tourney.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
Entering the 2010 Pac-10 Tournament last season at the Galen Center, USC was 18-11 overall and the No. 3 seed while holding a five-game win streak. The Trojans opened up with an 80-76 win over No. 6 seed Oregon to move into the semifinals against No. 2 seed UCLA. USC fell in a tight 59-53 decision to the Bruins to snap a six-game win streak and hold a 19-12 overall record and ultimately miss out on a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
USC VS. WSU
USC is 40-12 all-time against Washington State with two wins this season. The latest win came not even a week ago, when the Trojans fought back to beat the Cougars 74-67 at the Galen Center. USC also beat WSU 72-57 in January in Pullman. USC and WSU have faced in the Pac-10 Tournament only once before, back in 2003 when the tournament was held in Eugene, Ore. The Trojans posted a 53-46 win over the Cougars in the first round of the tourney that year.
LAST WEEK
USC got a crucial home sweep in its final two regular-season games last week. Against WSU, USC lost the lead for 12 minutes in the second half and fell behind by as much as seven, but the Trojans were determined to make a winning push did so for a 74-67 win on Thursday night at the Galen Center. The Women of Troy saw Cassie Harberts lead the way in the first half with 13 points, and then Briana Gilbreath buckled in for the second-half rally with 16 points to lead USC in scoring with 17 and 19 total points, respectively. The Cougars' improved second-half effort led WSU to out-shoot the Trojans 45 percent to 44 percent in the game. USC was in control of the boards, however, pulling down 41 to WSU's 22. A concerted effort to get to the free-throw line was crucial for the Trojans in staging their comeback push while trailing the Cougars in the second half. USC shot 30 second-half free throws to finish the game just one off the program record, shooting 46 free throws down the stretch. USC was 32-of-46 from the line, and WSU was 12-of-21.The Trojans would finish with four players in double figures led by Gilbreath's 19. Harberts finished with 17, and Jacki Gemelos and Ashley Corral both worked into double figures in the final minute on free throws to tally 11 and 10, respectively. WSU was led by 20 points from Jazmine Perkins and 11 apiece from Ireti Amojo and Sage Romberg. USC trailed by one with 4:30 to go in the game. The Trojans had to make another wild comeback push next. USC regrouped from Washington's late surge and forced overtime for a winning effort against the Huskies in a dramatic 65-61 Trojan win. Trailing by three in the final minute of regulation, USC saw Jacki Gemelos land a long-range three to extend the game. USC had led by as much as 15 points in the second half until the Huskies made their run into the lead. Washington got ahead 53-50 with 40 seconds left in regulation before Gemelos blasted that remarkable 3-pointer with 12 seconds left, and overtime came next. Briana Gilbreath and Gemelos both landed threes in overtime for a key lift to the Trojans' late push. Both finished up in double figures, with Gemelos leading USC with 15 points and Gilbreath snagging a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. USC had Cassie Harberts finish with 11 points and Christina Marinacci added 10 to round out four Trojans in double digits. Washington was led by 16 points from Kristi Kingma ad got 14 from Sarah Morton and 10 from Regina Rogers. Washington outrebounded USC 45-44 in the game, and out-shot the Trojans with a 36 percent effort from the floor. USC shot 33 percent from the field and was a mediocre 17-of-30 (.567) from the free-throw line. Washington shot 14-of-21 from the stripe down the stretch. The USC defense forced 18 turnovers out of the Huskies.
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. 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 several games ago, 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 1,173 career points to stand as USC's No. 16 all-time scorer. Corral now holds 1,084 career points to rank No. 19 in overall scoring, and is distancing herself as the all-time 3-point leader with 200 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. 19 scorer and top 3-point shooter, Corral now ranks No. 9 all-time in career assists with 349. Gilbreath stands No. 16 all-time in scoring and has served up 119 career blocks now to rank No. 7 on that career list alongside Trojan great Pam McGee.
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.
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 is currently a perfect 6-0 so far. 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 are now 2-6 on the year against ranked opponents.
ROAD RUNNERS
This season, USC is 7-8 overall in road games, 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. Overall, USC is 2-5 on trips outside PST, and is currently 12-6 in games played within the state of California; 6-5 in out-of-state games.
AWARD-WINNING OPENING
Briana Gilbreath kicked off the season with a bang, standing as the first player of the season to pick up Pac-10 Player of the Week honors. It was the first career selection for Gilbreath, who opened the year with a double-double to lead USC to an upset win over No. 22 Gonzaga in the Trojans' season opener. Gilbreath had a game-high 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, scoring 15 of her final 21 points during the second half in helping to push USC to a comeback win. The 21-point outing was just a point away from Gilbreath's career high. Three weeks later, Gilbreath repeated as the Pac-10 Player of the Week --- a feat last achieved by a Trojan in 1996 by Tina Thompson. In a long road trip through a few more time zones, Gilbreath beat her previous career high scoring total in back-to-back games. Up against the nation's No. 4 team in Xavier, Gilbreath had a double-double with a career-best 26 points to go with 12 rebounds for her third double-double of the year. Gilbreath's four 3-pointers hit in the Xavier game also was a new career high. Still on the road, the Trojans then visited NC State, with Gilbreath leading the way again with 23 points and a team-high seven rebounds as the Trojans beat the Wolfpack 84-75 to wrap up a strong road split. Gilbreath hit seven 3-pointers across the two games to go with five assists and four steals. After nailing her seventh double-double vs. Washington, Gilbreath is now averaging a team-high 15.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game for the Trojans. She also now ranks No. 16 all-time in career scoring at USC with her 1,173 career points after hitting 12 on Sunday.
PAC-10 HAT TRICK
Ashley Corral snagged USC's third Pac-10 Player of the Week honor this season -- the junior's second pick of her career -- after helping lead the Trojans to wins at the Women of Troy Basketball Tournament. Corral ran her total up to 162 career threes in providing game-high scoring for USC in wins over Colorado and San Diego State. Named to the All-Tournament Team, Corral coupled 14 points against future conference-mate Colorado with a team-high seven rebounds as USC beat the Buffs 68-54. The next day, Corral opened the championship game against San Diego State with a 5-of-5 effort from the floor, scoring USC's first 10 points of the game and finishing with 23 points to go with six assists and five rebounds, providing key points for USC as the Trojans pulled out of a four-point game to beat the Aztecs 74-64. Corral's selection marks the first time since 1996-97 that the Trojans have had more than two Player of the Week honors in a single season as she joins Briana Gilbreath's pair of picks to date. Corral is currently No. 2 on the team in scoring with 12.2 ppg and is averaging 3.9 assists per game after moving up to No. 19 all-time in career scoring on Thursday and hitting her 200th career 3-pointer at Arizona.
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, and who recently notched her first career double-double. 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 is accounting for 85 percent of USC's scoring. Briana Gilbreath, Corral and Gemelos are all averaging in double figures to date and hit double digits all together in four of USC's six-game win streak, with Harberts and Marinacci not far behind at 9.3 and 8.5 ppg, respectively, and Stefanie Gilbreath averaging 3.4 ppg in 13 appearances. Marinacci also is No. 2 in rebounds, hauling in 6.6 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 11.7 points per game and is tops on the team with a 82.5 percent free-throw effort.
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.
