USC Has Answer for Washington’s Comeback, 77-66

When it was over, when the players and coaches for Washington’s and USC’s women’s basketball teams talked about a Washington comeback that fell just short, “character” was the most-used word.

For Washington, character was climbing off the floor from a 17-point halftime deficit; and for USC, it was suddenly stiffening its resolve and shutting out the Huskies in the final two minutes of a 77-66 Trojan victory Sunday afternoon in front of 585 at Lyon Center.

Until then, it appeared as if the Huskies might come all the way back after trailing, 48-31, at halftime. The Trojans (7-5 overall, 2-0 in the Pacific 10) increased their lead to 22 points by beginning the second half with a 7-2 run, but Washington (4-10, 0-2) then summoned a burst of defensive energy, trapping the Trojans in the backcourt, stealing the ball and outscoring USC, 31-14, to close the deficit to 69-66 when Melissa Erickson scored inside for the Huskies with 2:11 left.

And at that point, the exhausted Huskies ran out of steam, failing to score another point.

And the Trojans got a huge lift from Tashara Carter, who sank an eight-foot baseline jump shot with 1:50 to go and added a layup 14 seconds later, off an Erica Mashia steal.

The result gave USC, a winner over Washington State on Friday, its first sweep of a Pac-10 opening weekend since the 1996-97 season. Next up is a USC-UCLA matchup on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion that will feature two of the three Pac-10 teams to start the conference 2-0.

USC Coach Chris Gobrecht didn’t seem surprised by her team’s second-half collapse.

“We’re either very good or very bad, and you saw both sides today,” she said.

“This happens when you have seven new kids on the team, and also the fact that we’re basically a little soft to begin with. When we get punched, we tend to reel a little bit. I think as we evolve as a team we’ll get a little tougher.”

Gobrecht called the first half her club’s best of the season. USC had three turnovers in the first half, 13 in the second.

Washington Coach June Daugherty said her team’s comeback will pay dividends later.

“It was exciting, to see them show character like that,” she said.

“I challenged them at halftime, I asked them if they wanted to compete in the second half, or maybe just get on the bus and go to the airport.”

Both sides later talked about becoming more consistent over 40 minutes.

“I think we showed in the second half that we can be really good,” said Washington freshman guard Loree Payne, who had a game-high 22 points.

“We just have to figure out how to play like that for 40 minutes.”

Carter led USC with 21 points, Danielle Golay had 17 and Tiffany Elmore 16.