USC
Oregon St
USC Downs Beavers 69-67 In Overtime
January 27, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2001
CORVALLIS, Ore. - With her second consecutive double-double, freshman Ebony Hoffman led USC to a 69-67 overtime victory over Oregon State on Saturday afternoon in Corvallis.
USC improves to 8-9 overall and 3-4 in the Pac-10 Conference with the win, while the Beavers fall to 11-6 and 3-4 in league play. OSU has yet to win back-to-back conference games this season.
USC got on the scoreboard first, taking an early 3-0 lead but OSU went on a 17-6 run over the next nine minutes, helped in part by two USC technical fouls that resulted in four free throws by Oregon State guard Felecia Ragland whose career-high 29 points and career best 13 rebounds were not enough for the Beavers.
Ragland kept the Beavers in the game, scoring 21 first half points on 6-of-9 shooting and a perfect 9-for-9 clip from the free throw line.
With the Beavers up by 10 points (26-16) the Women of Troy reeled off nine-straight to narrow the lead to 26-25 with 3:44 remaining in the half. Neither team would lead by more than four points for the rest of the game.
OSU took a narrow 35-34 advantage into the locker room at halftime of the foul-plagued contest.
Both teams shot nearly identical from the floor and the free throw line in the opening 20 minutes. Oregon State hit 11-of-24 shots from the field and 12-of-14 from the line while the Women of Troy buried 10-of-25 from the floor and 11-of-14 from behind the line. In the second half both teams struggled to score as fouls continued to start and stop action.
As the Beavers led by four points (49-45) with just over five minutes left in the game, USC answered by scoring six-straight to regain the lead at the 3:49 mark.
Denise Woods' lay-up with 2:12 on the clock gave the Trojans a 53-51 advantage. Both squads exchanged misses over the next two minutes until OSU freshman Leilani Estavan's high-arching 4-footer tied the score with :04 ticks remaining to send the game into overtime.
Both squads got more into the offensive flow during the overtime period, scoring a combined 30 points in five minutes compared to just 37 points in the second half.
With 39 seconds remaining Hoffman was sent to the line, then hit a lay-up to give the Women of Troy the lead for good. Cook's jumper on the ensuing possession went awry and USC hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final :06 seconds to seal the victory.
Aisha Hollans led USC with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Hoffman added 12 points and 14 rebounds. Teammates Tashara Carter and Tiffany Elmore added 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Beavers hit 21-of-55 shots from the floor and 23-of-31 from the line while the Women of Troy connected on 25-of-60 field goals and 16-of-24 free throw attempts.
USC returns home to face Cal on Friday, Feb. 2, and Stanford on Sunday, Feb. 4. The Cal game will begin at 7 p.m. and will be played at the Lyon Center, while the Trojans face the Cardinal at 3 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
