NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament : Trojans Face Unknown Quantity in Nebraska Tonight

Linda Sharp well remembers the last time USC’s women’s basketball team played Nebraska. It was in the 1976-77 season and Sharp was an assistant coach for the Trojans. The game had been close all night. With USC down by two points and one second left in the game, Coach Marci Cantrell called a timeout.

“She looked at me, and she just went blank,” Sharp said. “So I got in the huddle and I told (the players) what to do. Our kid shot a half-court shot and it went in at the buzzer. We eventually went into second overtime, which we won by two.” The score was 72-70.

The memory of that game may linger tonight when USC plays Nebraska in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament. The Trojans are the home team in the game to be played at Cal State Dominguez Hills at 7.

The Cornhuskers (22-6) are seeded No. 5 in the West Region and something of an unknown quantity to USC. Sharp has seen Nebraska’s early season game films but nothing after December. Since they went on to win the Big Eight title, Sharp knows the Cornhuskers have improved.

“From what I’ve seen in the films, I’ve seen a team that likes to come down the floor and shoot quickly,” Sharp said. “They like to keep you off your defense. They mix things up. They are balanced and they’ve got most of their scoring from their perimeter players.”

Foremost among those is 5-foot 8-inch guard Amy Stephens, who is averaging 16 points a game and is shooting 40% from 3-point range. The Cornhuskers only late this week confirmed that Stephens would be able to play tonight.

The junior was driving on an unfamiliar road last week when she failed to negotiate a turn. Her car ran head-on into a pole and Stephens was knocked unconscious. She suffered a concussion and severe bruises.

The Cornhuskers have had two weeks off and the Trojans (21-7) have had a week to prepare. Despite having the lower regional seed--USC is No. 4 in the West--Nebraska is seemingly not overly impressed with USC.

“USC is kind of in a down year, considering,” Nebraska Coach Angela Beck told the Omaha World-Herald. “I’m familiar with the teams they’ve played. They are not extremely strong, but they are strong in the national polls.”

Such talk was surely bulletin-board material for the Trojans.