West Regional at Cal State Dominguez Hills : Experienced Trojans Stop Nebraska, 100-82

The USC women’s basketball team is inching along, not looking beyond this moment. The view, as of late Saturday night, was pretty good.

The Trojans, ranked 15th and seeded fourth in the West, beat a young and inexperienced Nebraska team, 100-82, in the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament.

The game at Cal State Dominguez Hills, before 1,245 exuberant fans, may have turned on USC’s tournament experience--the Trojans’ 10th consecutive year in postseason play and their seventh straight year in the NCAA tournament.

Nebraska (22-7) was the fifth seed in the West and playing far from home in the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance.

The Cornhuskers kept it close in the first half, but the Trojans’ balance and seasoning won out.

USC (22-7) advances to the West Regional and will play the winner of today’s Stephen F. Austin-Iowa game at Iowa City.

After pulling out to a 14-point lead late in the game, USC players were beginning to allow themselves to joke and laugh. It was enough to incite the Cornhuskers to run at the Trojans.

Stephens keyed the rush--getting eight points, including two three-point shots. She brought the Cornhuskers to within four, making it 76-72 with five minutes left to play.

That Stephens was even playing was a tribute to her grit. Stephens slammed her car into a pole last week and was discovered, unconscious, by the Nebraska Highway Patrol.

Stephens suffered a concussion in the accident, but she had a doctor’s clearance to play Saturday night.

Stephens played every minute and scored 20 points.

Grittiness had another face in this game, that of USC’s Tammy Hammond. The sophomore has been yearning to play basketball for the Trojans, but Proposition 48 sat her down last year and her own eagerness has hindered her this season.

Hammond came to preseason practices trying to make up for a year of disappointment with a week of overachieving. She pressed and showed the USC staff more signs of streetball than discipline.

Hammond makes up for her lack of basketball refinement with athletic ability. There are no niceties in Hammond’s game--she’d just as soon pound underneath for a basket as pull up and shoot.

Saturday night, Hammond had only four points in the first half but she scored 18 points in the second.

“I didn’t play well in the first half, so it was do or die in the second,” Hammond said. “Each game is a new experience for me. Everywhere we go the team colors are different to me. Even though I’m a sophomore in school, I’m definitely a freshman as far as basketball is concerned. I’ve got a long way to go.”

Hammond and Cherie Nelson, who also had 22 points, brought USC back from the brink. Nursing that four-point lead, Hammond hit a free throw and then a 16-foot fallaway to give the Trojans some breathing room at 79-72. Nelson had five points in the spurt that reclaimed the lead for the Trojans.

There was no such point pad in the first half. Nebraska pulled USC into its running tempo, a dangerous state of affairs for the Trojans, and certainly not part of Sharp’s game plan.

USC defused Nebraska’s running game with a ferocious defensive posture that threatened to put most of the team in foul trouble.

Kalen Wright, USC’s most persistent defender, had two fouls in the first two minutes of the game.

“After the second foul, I backed off a little,” Wright said. “I didn’t want to get three in the first half.”

Despite the profusion of USC fouls--the Cornhuskers eventually caught up in that department, committing 24 to the Trojans’ 17--the pressure defense rewarded USC with turnovers. Nebraska had committed nine turnovers in the first half to USC’s two. That pace held true in the game, as Nebraska had 20 turnovers to USC’s 12.

When they were fouled, the Trojans capitalized. The team made 12 of 13 free throws in the first half. Nelson was 12 of 14 for the game, and the team was 26 of 34.

Some USC players shot exceptionally well. Holly Ford hit her first six shots and finished 7 of 10 and 15 points. Hammond was 10 of 13 from the field.

Maurtice Ivy led the Cornhuskers with 22 points and 9 rebounds.