USC
8-6, 2-1
Arizona
12-3, 1-2
USC Women Sweep Past Arizona 72-67
January 07, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2012
TUCSON, ARIZ - The USC women's basketball team capped off a road sweep through Arizona by staving off comeback efforts by the host Wildcats and securing a 72-67 win on Saturday afternoon in Tucson. Briana Gilbreath led a pack of five Women of Troy in double figures for the win, hitting 17 points to go with nine rebounds. USC improves to 8-6 overall and 2-1 in Pac-12 play with the victory, while Arizona goes to 12-3, 1-2.
USC led by as much as 16 in the second half before Arizona cut to within three in the final minute before Ashley Corral tallied her 10th points of the day with a pair of clutch free throws with seven ticks to go to secure the road win. Corral was one of four Trojans to finish with 10 points, joined by Stefanie Gilbreath, Cassie Harberts and Christina Marinacci, who battled foul trouble to stay a force for USC. Arizona was led by a game-high 23 points and 13 rebounds from Davellyn Whyte.
USC picked up its scoring pace in the second half to finish the game at a 38-percent clip to match Arizona's 38 percent from the floor. Both teams nailed five 3-pointers apiece, but USC was ahead of the game on the boards 43-39 and from the free-throw line, hitting 21-of-28 to Arizona's 14-of-18.
The lead changed hands eight times in the first half, with Arizona leading by six early on. The Trojans would strike out on a 10-0 run late in the half, however, charging out to a 28-20 advantage with a minute to go. Arizona's Reiko Thomas drained two 3-pointers in the last minute to cut it to a 30-26 USC lead at the half.
Arizona made it a one-point game after the Wildcats opened the second half with a three-point play, but the Trojans responded in the next five minutes. Stefanie Gilbreath gave USC an 8-2 run on her own to carry the Women of Troy to their largest lead to that point, up 42-33 with 15 minutes to go. A three from Ashley Corral bumped it to a 12-point margin in USC's favor, and Cassie Harberts then provided back-to-back buckets across the halfway point of the second to make it 55-41 Trojans. The Wildcats would get some help from a string of trips to the free-throw line to make a 13-0 run while USC struck out from the floor for almost five minutes as Arizona cut it to 57-54. Briana Gilbreath stopped the run with a three-point play at 3:56 to get it to 60-54 USC, but the Wildcats kept pushing the issue. Arizona was within a 3-pointer of the Trojans with 21 seconds to go, but after a miss on the tying try Briana Gilbreath hauled in the rebound - having moved up to No. 9 all-time in career rebounds with nine today - and Corral was sent to the line to ice the game with a pair with 7 ticks remaining to make it a 72-67 final for USC.
After making its seventh trip out-of-state this season, USC returns to California to face crosstown rival UCLA in a 2 p.m. clash on Saturday (Jan. 14) in Westwood, Calif.
