USC
4-1
Great Alaska Shootout: USC vs. Portland
1-4
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
USC Women Win Great Alaska Shootout Title
November 23, 2016 | Women's Basketball
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — The USC women's basketball team shrugged off a late threat by Portland, turning a six-point game into a 16-point advantage as Kristen Simon tacked up her second straight double-double and Courtney Jaco moved up to No. 4 on USC's career 3-point charts. A well-balanced effort by the Women of Troy led them to a final 67-54 victory over the Pilots in the championship game of the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, held at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage. At the close of the event, Simon was named the Most Outstanding Player and was joined by fellow junior Sadie Edwards and freshman Minyon Moore on the All-Tournament Team. USC improves to 4-1 with tonight's win.
USC shot 41 percent in the game to outpace Portland's 37 percent from the floor. The Pilots edged out the Trojans on the boards 33-32, and yet Kristen Simon was able to haul in 12 rebounds for the Trojan cause to go along with her 20 points as she notched her 11th career double-double. Sadie Edwards also topped out with 20 points and four assists, followed by 13 points from Courtney Jaco and 10 from Minyon Moore. Portland was paced by 11 points from Julie Spencer.
The lead traded hands back and forth in the first stretch of the first quarter before the Trojans manufactured an 8-0 run to steal back into the lead. With Kristen Simon doing work down low and USC's guards slicing through to keep the Trojan offense on track, USC built up an 18-12 lead before Portland got one to go in the final minute to get it to 18-14 Trojans after 10 minutes of play. Another tug-of-war ensued in the first five minutes of the second frame as Portland edged ahead only to see USC's Ivana Jakubcova and Minyon Moore contributed to a Trojan push back into the lead. Simon would continue her efforts down low to work her way into double digits next, getting USC to a 24-19 lead. Portland would carve that back down to one, but Sadie Edwards stepped up and tallied the last six points of the half to net USC a 30-23 lead at the break.
The third quarter unfurled with Simon standing out with USC's first eight points as the Trojans built a 38-25 advantage. Back-to-back threes from Edwards tugged USC out ahead farther, up 44-25 at the midway point of the quarter. But the Pilots would fight back. Portland ended the third quarter on a 10-0 run that carved a once 19-point lead down to eight at the close of the third. That margin was trimmed down to six as Portland struck first out of the gates in the fourth, but that threat awakened the competitive juices of senior Courtney Jaco. Jaco landed three 3-pointers in about three minutes to help tug the Trojans back to a comfy lead. Her third 3-pointer also tugged the senior up to No. 4 all-time on USC's career 3-point charts, now with 155 career threes made. Moore and Edwards also continued to click in that final 10-minute stretch to keep the Trojans chugging along to a final 67-54 decision.
The Women of Troy now return to the Lower 48 to continue nonconference action. USC will host Long Beach State in a 4 p.m. face-off on Sunday (Nov. 27) at Galen Center. Then, the Trojans take off for College Station, Texas, to visit Texas A&M in an 11 a.m. CT matchup on Wednesday (Nov. 30).
