Monday, November 16, 2009

USC 68, Fresno State 63

The game was even for the first half with neither team having more than a five-point lead. The first five minutes of the game was a series of missed shots and the score five minutes in was USC 5-2. The next five minutes the scoring picked up and USC led 16-15 half way through the first half.

USC's scoring was more balanced than Fresno States. In fact there were only two girls on Fresno State that impressed me: #2 Haley Munro, a 6'1" junior from Australia, and #4 Jaleesa Ross, a 5'8" junior from Pinole, CA. Both athletes ended up with over 20 points, and nobody else had more than five points.

Munro is a three-point shooter with occasional drives to the hoops. Ross is the PG/SG who has very good control of the offensive flow. In fact she had no turnovers for the game.

The first half closed out with Fresno leading 32-29.

The second half started with teams trading baskets and small leads by both teams.
Halfway through the second half, Fresno State opened up an eight-point lead to take the score to 55-47. Then USC went on a 14-0 run to take a six-point lead at 61-55, with about four minutes left. Fresno came back and tied the game at 63-63 with 1:32 left, then USC got the last fove points to finish out the game at 68-63.

USC had four players in double figures, led by Briana Gilbreath's 1 17 points. Freshman Christina Marinacci scored 12 points in her second college game and finished tied in rebounds with seven, including six offensive rebounds. Marinacci blended into the offense well and played almost half the game. Kari Laplante added 12 points and Ashley Corral, 10.

Notes: One of the refs was injured about midway through the first half. (I think she was knocked down by a USC player after a basket under the hoop). She was on the floor for a few minutes and appeared to be favoring her hip. She didnt return.

In the crowd was Mater Dei's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who recently verbally committed to the University of Connecticut; Elbert Kinnebrew, the director of the Cal Sparks, and USC 2010 USC recruits De'Nesia Stallworth and Cassie Harberts.

Attendance was about 850, including the four USC Song girls, 12 USC dancing team members and about 25 members of the USC band.

I can see why the PAC-10 has the WBB tournament in this venue.

- IM in OC

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure why u brought up lewis other to than maybe start something, due to the current trend?

Anonymous said...

Definetly not trying to start something. I just put some names to faces I saw at the game. Its nice to see HS players from So Cal attending local college games. There were other HS players there, however, I cant recall or didnt know their names.

IM in OC

Anonymous said...

I love your site and its focus on Southern California women's hoops. How come you didn't cover the fact that Michael Cooper, who has been at USC less than two months, just signed a Top 10 recruiting class for women's college baskrtball.

Imagine what he can do after he has a full year under his belt and can focus all of his time and attention on attracting girls in Southern California to stay home and play for USC. The future looks bright for women's collegiate basketball in LA

Sue Favor said...

Anonymous, I'll get to it.

I've been very busy since the start of the new school year. And that "very" turned to "insanely" since basketball season began.

But where there is hoops, there is me. Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading.

Anonymous said...

Maybe as not much credit goes to Cooper as he wasn't involved!!!

Sue Favor said...

Personally, I don't give any credit to Cooper, as he didn't even start the job until late September. It was his assistants I saw at the viewing tournaments all summer long.