Women’s Basketball : It’s a Struggle, but USC Beats Notre Dame, 69-53

The USC women’s basketball team struggled against Notre Dame for a half Wednesday night, but solved the Irish defense in time to pull away to a 69-53 nonconference win at Cal State Fullerton.

The second-ranked Trojans (10-0) have seen numerous defenses designed to stop high-scoring forward Cheryl Miller this season, but few have worked as effectively as Notre Dame’s box-and-one did in the first half.

Irish Coach Mary DiStanislao called it a “modified 2-3 defense,” but it would be difficult to convince Miller that she was playing against a zone. Wherever she went, Notre Dame defender Mary Beth Scheuth was practically glued to her jersey.

The strategy didn’t exactly shut down Miller--she scored 13 first-half points--but it seemed to disrupt the entire Trojan offense.

USC trailed for most of the first half until a six-point surge just before halftime gave them a 32-26 lead. Miller was constantly double-teamed and had to work hard just to get the ball.

She finished with a game-high 21 points, but that’s almost seven below her 27.9 per game average. USC couldn’t take control of the game until the final five minutes, when the Trojans scored 10 straight points for a 67-47 lead.

“We wondered when someone was going to throw a box-and-one at us,” USC Coach Linda Sharp said. “This was good for us heading into the road trip (on which the Trojans will travel to play Georgia, Tennessee and top-ranked Old Dominion). We struggled early but made the proper adjustments in the second half. We did a good job being creative against it.”

Reserve guard Amy Alkek keyed USC’s second-half outburst, scoring all 10 of her points in that span. Teammate Yolanda Fletcher scored 14 points, while point guard Rhonda Windham had eight assists.

In the second game of the doubleheader at Titan Gym, Northeast Louisiana forward Lisa Ingram scored 30 points and the fifth-ranked Indians (9-0) held off Cal State Fullerton, 66-65.

The Titans has the ball with 19 seconds left and worked for the last shot, but Robin Holmes’ 20-foot jumper with six seconds left was off the mark. Northeast Louisiana’s Jocelyn Hill grabbed the rebound and was fouled with two seconds remaining.

She missed the front end of a one-and-one situation, but Fullerton was unable to get another shot off.