USC, Long Beach Women Appear Headed for Another NCAA Showdown

The stage is set once again for women’s basketball teams at USC and Cal State Long Beach to ruin each other’s postseason lives. As of Sunday, the NCAA placed the No. 3 Trojans and No. 9 49ers on a collision course that could impact at the West Regional in Long Beach Arena March 20-22.

USC (27-4) was made the top-seeded team in the West Regional. To no one’s great surprise, No. 1 Texas was given the No. 1 seed and will play host to the Midwest Regional. No. 2 Georgia is top-seeded in the Mideast Regional at Iowa City, Iowa and No. 4 Virginia will play in the East Regional at Philadelphia.

“I’m very pleased,” said USC Coach Linda Sharp, who spent Sunday playing basketball. “I think the NCAA took our record into account, plus our difficult schedule and the fact that we beat Georgia and beat Long Beach soundly in our last meeting.”

The placement of Long Beach and USC in the West Regional continues a long-standing tradition and fuels a bitter rivalry. The 49ers knocked the Trojans out of last year’s tournament by winning a typically close game, 75-72.

“In at least seven of the nine years I’ve been here, we’ve played Long Beach in the regional,” Sharp said. “Anything can happen. It’s a possibility we will play them.”

Long Beach, USC, Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech, Nevada Las Vegas and North Carolina have byes in the first round.

Other teams playing in the first round of the West Regional are Utah (21-7) at Montana (26-3) and North Texas State (20-9) at Washington.

The Utah-Montana winner faces USC at the Sports Arena Sunday. The Montana-North Texas State winner plays No. 6 Louisiana Tech at Ruston, La. Saturday. Nevada Las Vegas (22-8) plays at North Carolina (22-8) and Texas Tech (21-8) plays at Long Beach (28-4) Saturday.

“We are real pleased to be in postseason play,” 49er Coach Joan Bonvicini said. “We are also happy to be playing at home. I was at a party for the team today that was put on by 150 of our boosters. It’s NCAA time, and I know they will support us.

“I don’t know what Texas Tech has yet, but our team is ready.”

If Long Beach and USC continue to win, they will meet in the regional final. Amid all the figuring on the rematch between USC and Long Beach, not to be overlooked are Louisiana Tech and Nevada Las Vegas.

Both the Trojans and the 49ers have lost to the Lady Techsters, both losses in Ruston, La. Louisiana Tech is a notoriously difficult team to play at home.

“We are looking forward to playing them again,” Sharp said. “I know the team would like a shot at them.”

Nevada Las Vegas beat the 49ers last Saturday, and are a well-rounded, feisty team.

“We were very disappointed with the loss,” Bonvicini said. “I think it’s possible that our team took them too lightly. But they have a lot of depth, too.”

USC has not played the Rebels this season.

“The field is getting so much stronger,” Sharp said of the 40-team national tournament. The NCAA Final Four is March 28 in Lexington, Ky. The Midwest champion will play the winner of the East and the West champion will play the winner in the Mideast. The title game is March 30.