warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Women of Troy Lose First Home Game; Split With Arizona Schools

Shotgun Spratling |
January 29, 2011 | 5:31 p.m. PST

Associate Sports Editor

Arizona State tangled up Briana Gilbreath, holding her to 12 points. (Shotgun Spratling)
Arizona State tangled up Briana Gilbreath, holding her to 12 points. (Shotgun Spratling)

Ashley Corral had Jacki Gemelos open to her right. But with the final seconds of the game ticking away, Corral chose to fire up the last shot.

After grabbing the inbounds pass with 6.8 seconds remaining, Corral stormed across midcourt and with less the two seconds left, hoisted a shot from near-NBA range.

Both the shot and USC's run at an unblemished home record fell short as Arizona State survived 62-61 Saturday afternoon at the Galen Center.

The Women of Troy (13-7, 5-4) took care of their homecourt Thursday night defeating Arizona 81-72 thanks to 20 points from Briana Gilbreath and a career-high 17 from Christina Marinacci.

However, a sluggish start against Arizona State (13-6, 5-4) proved too much Saturday.

Shooting only 33 percent in the first half, USC fell behind 33-21 at halftime and was down by as much as 14 early in the second half. But a 14-0 run gave USC its first lead of the game with 5:18 remaining.

The teams went back and forth down the stretch. Sun Devils' forward Becca Tobin scored Arizona State's final six points, including a layup with 24 seconds remaining that turned out to be the game-winning basket.

Gilbreath missed a potential game-tying free throw with 11.8 seconds and Corral's final shot never made it to the rim.

-- BREAKING IT DOWN --

By the Numbers

  • 50 - In the second half of Thursday's game against Arizona, the Women of Troy scored 50 points. It was the first time USC has hit the half-century mark in a half this season. They accomplished the feat by shooting 55.6 percent in the second half.
  • 17 - Christina Marinacci scored a career-high 17 points in the win over Arizona. Marinacci scored 10 of those points in the second half, including one stretch where she scored eight of the team's 10 points.
  • 1 - That would be how many rebounds both Marinacci and Briana Gilbreath needed to record a double-double against the Wildcats Thursday night. It would have been Gilbreath's fourth double-double of the season and Marinacci's third.
  • 38 - USC scored 38 more points in the second halves of the two games. All season, the Women of Troy have started slow at home and it finally caught up with them against Arizona State.

    "Today was a wake up call for us," coach Michael Cooper said. "We have to come out of the blocks early."

  • 18 - Freshman Desiree Bradley played a career-high 18 minutes against Arizona. She also set career highs scoring six points, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers, and dishing out three assists.
  • 8 - Briana Gilbreath set a new career high with eight steals in the loss to Arizona State. It was the most for a Trojan since Eshaya Murphy's eight against Arizona in 2004. Gilbreath topped the personal best of five she set earlier this season against Colorado, but she was still shy of the school record of 12 set by Tammy Story in 1990.
  • 13, 25, 35 - Those are the different jersey numbers Kari LaPlante wore against Arizona State. After getting blood on the No. 13 jersey she normally wears, LaPlante was given the No. 25 jersey worn by backup point guard Daniela Roark last season. However, LaPlante switched the snug jersey for the looser No. 35 uniform at halftime.

    Regardless of her number, LaPlante had one of her better games of the season making both of her field goal attempts, three of four free throws and grabbing seven rebounds. For the second time in three games and only the third time all season, five of LaPlante's rebounds came on the offensive end.

Top Player: Briana Gilbreath.

For only the second time in conference play this season, against Arizona State, Gilbreath didn't have a block. It was about the only thing she had a zero for on the stat line.

Gilbreath continues to be the most dynamic player on the court. She does a little bit of everything. Against Arizona, she had 20 points and nine rebounds, four on the offensive end. She also added five assists, two blocks and a steal.

She filled up the stat sheet against the Sun Devils as well. She had 12 points on 50 percent shooting, grabbed six rebounds, led the team with five assists and tied for the sixth-best single game effort with her eight steals.

The junior also scored her 1000th point as a Trojan last weekend in a game against Stanford.

Christina Marinacci goes up for a shot against Arizona State. (Shotgun Spratling)
Christina Marinacci goes up for a shot against Arizona State. (Shotgun Spratling)
Unsung Hero: Christina Marinacci.

Prior to the Oregon State game two weeks ago, coach Michael Cooper went with a bigger starting lineup inserting Marinacci in for Jacki Gemelos. Since then, Marinacci has started five of six games. In those starts, the sophomore forward is averaging 10.4 points, including the career-high 17 against Arizona.

Though Marinacci's rebounding average has decreased due to playing alongside forwards Cassie Harberts and Kari LaPlante rather than replacing one, Marinacci's scoring, assist and steal averages have all increased. Her assist-to-turnover ratio has also increased from 0.7-to-1 to 1.8-to-1.

"Step It Up:" Ashley Corral.

For a moment in the second half of the Arizona State game, it looked like Corral was back in the groove. She scored a driving layup on a fastbreak, she hit a turnaround jumper in the paint and then she swished a 3-pointer from the right wing without coming close to touching the rim.

Instead, Corral's shooting woes returned as she missed six of her final eight field goal attempts and turned the ball over two times. Following her 6-of-16 shooting performance against the Sun Devils, Corral has now shot 50 percent or better only twice in the last two months.

Ashley Corral shoots a jumpshot over Arizona State's Dymond Simon. (Shotgun Spratling)
Ashley Corral shoots a jumpshot over Arizona State's Dymond Simon. (Shotgun Spratling)
Since a season-high 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting against San Diego State on December 19, Corral has made only 33 of her 117 field goal attempts -- 28.2 percent.

When USC struggled in the second half of the conference schedule last season, guard Heather Oliver, who has since graduated, went through a similar shooting slump. The Trojans even had a five-game losing streak during Oliver's struggles.

For the Women of Troy to be successful and potentially make a run in the NCAA Tournament, they are going to need Corral to break out. She is the floor general and one of the veteran leaders on the team. When Corral and Gilbreath are clicking on all cylinders, USC can play with almost any team in the country.

Where They Stand:

The Women of Troy really needed a victory Saturday. Not only did they want to keep their undefeated home record, but they also wanted to take hold of third place in the Pac-10 standings.

But instead of taking sole possession and being ahead of Cal by a game and the Arizona schools by two games, USC now is tied with both Cal and Arizona State.

"It's very disappointing. We could have really separated ourselves from the group," coach Michael Cooper said. "It would have been nice to get this win and put a game, game and a half, two games separation between us and the four or five seed."

A win would have also kept UCLA within striking distance after the first half of conference play. However, USC is now three games behind its crosstown rivals. The Trojans will welcome the Bruins to the Galen Center next Sunday with a chance to avenge the 19-point drubbing UCLA gave them at Pauley Pavilion.

With their strong non-conference schedule, USC should be able to get an at-large bid from the NCAA Tournament selection committee as long as they finish with a winning conference record. However, the selection committee did only award the Pac-10 one at-large bid last season.

It might not be imperative, but I'm sure coach Cooper would feel his team's chances to make the tournament are a lot safer if the Trojans finish the second half of the conference schedule 7-2. A conference record of 12-6 looks a lot stronger than 10-8.

That will begin next Sunday when UCLA comes across town.

When asked about the Bruins, Cooper stuffed a crumpled piece of paper in his mouth to keep from saying anything after his "F*** UCLA" comments last year caused a commotion and forced Cooper to make a public apology.

To reach Shotgun Spratling, click here, or follow him on Twitter @BlueWorkhorse.

Sign up for Neon Tommy's weekly e-mail newsletter.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness