USC Women Supportive of Thompson

USC’s women’s basketball team sent out a signal Saturday night and an understanding of Morse code wasn’t needed to pick it up.

Tina Thompson, the team’s 6-foot-3 All-American senior, does have a supporting cast.

The Trojans, behind Thompson’s typical punishing game--26 points and 15 rebounds--upended San Francisco, 68-55, before 2,806 at McConnell Center to advance to the second round of the Mideast Regional, where USC will play Florida on Monday.

Thompson was driving USC’s engine early Saturday, scoring 18 in the first half and giving the Trojans a 41-35 halftime lead. But she also had two fouls at the break and would plainly need second-half help.

Up stepped Jodi Parriott, who until this tournament had been playing the reluctant-shooter role.

Athletic, fast and possibly the team’s best pure shooter, Parriott suddenly wasn’t dishing off to anyone and, in fact, was demanding the ball.

There was no warning for this. She had zeros across the box score, except for three personal fouls and an assist in six minutes of the first half.

But she scored USC’s first 11 points of the second half and gave her team a commanding lead.

A minute into the second half, she made an 18-footer from the baseline. She followed that with a 12-foot jumper off the glass, got another basket from the baseline and added an eight-footer. Then, with nine minutes left, she launched an all-net three-point shot from the corner that made the score 52-44.

On USC’s next trip, Kristin Clark fed a driving Thompson with a great bounce pass for an easy layup, forcing a USF timeout.

The score was noteworthy, 54-44, coming at 8:36. USF came in as the nation’s third-best defensive team, allowing 53.4 points a game.

Parriott seemed surprised in the postgame interview when asked if this had been her best USC game.

“No way,” she said.

“Jodi, you scored the first 11 points of the second half,” a sports information director told her.

“No way!” she said, wide-eyed. “What? Are you serious? I did?”

Well, maybe it’s just March Madness.

Whatever, Parriott finished with 11 points in 22 minutes and added four rebounds.

Thompson, who picked up her third foul during the Parriott streak, scored only six more points, four of them free throws.

After Parriott was done, USC simply maintained a lead that never dipped below 10 points.

USC (20-8) was bigger, faster, stronger and, for a change, deeper than a good opponent, a fact acknowledged later by Bill Nepfel, who, with wife Mary, co-coaches USF (25-6). The Dons’ tallest starter is 6-2, while USC goes 6-5, 6-4, 6-3 up front.

USC prevailed on the boards, 45-33.

“I don’t have a sense that we did anything dramatically bad,” he said. “But their size gets to you after a while. They had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half and that’s just too many. They bring in a 6-4 kid off the bench, then come a couple 6-2s . . . “

While USC was overpowering USF inside, the Dons’ outside game also failed them. Andrea Kagie came in as a 42.3% three-point shooter, but was one for seven against the Trojan zone. USF was five for 19 on three-point shots.