USC
9-3, 1-0
Washington State
2-11, 0-1
USC Women Ring Up 72-57 Win Over WSU
December 31, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2010
PULLMAN, WASH. - The USC women's basketball team iced its best start in 14 years and opened up Pac-10 play with a road win as the Trojans posted a 72-57 victory over host Washington State on New Year's Eve afternoon in Pullman, Wash. USC's fifth straight win came thanks to another set of four players hitting double digits, led by freshman Cassie Harberts' first career double-double. Now 9-3 overall and 1-0 in Pac-10 play, USC matches its previous best season start from the 1996-97 season. Washington State goes to 2-11, 0-1 with the loss.
Jacki Gemelos and Briana Gilbreath led the way on the points tally for the Trojans with 15 points apiece to go along with 12 from Christina Marinacci and Cassie Harberts' 11 points and 10 rebounds. Washington State got two players in double digits, as Ireti Amojo nailed four 3-pointers for the Cougars to finish with 14 and Hana Potter hit two and finished with 10 points. USC shot 39 percent in the game, ahead of WSU's 30 percent, with the teams even on the boards 48-48 and both with eight 3-pointers apiece.
In a shaky first half in which USC shot 38 percent from the floor and saw WSU make a move into the lead after the first four minutes, the Trojans would later manufacture an 11-0 run on the hands of five different scorers to finish up the first half with a 35-22 advantage. Christina Marinacci was already embedded in double digits with 11 points by halftime, but was soon joined by Jacki Gemelos after she nailed two more 3-pointers to help get USC rolling in the second half.
Three-pointers kept coming from WSU's Amojo, although USC answered her fourth with another from Gemelos and one from Ashley Corral that, combined with a steal from Christina Marinacci and a lyup from Len'Nique Brown, put USC up 54-38 at the 12:15 mark. The Women of Troy would lead by 23 with three minutes remaining before the Cougars were able to cut in to make it a 72-57 final USC victory.
The Trojans now wrap up their three-games-in-five-days road trip with a visit to Seattle. USC faces Washington in a 2 p.m. Pac-10 clash on Sunday (Jan. 2) in the teams' first action of the new year.
