USC Rally Cuts Down St. Joseph’s

For the second time in three days, USC’s women beat a good basketball team in the final minutes of a game. Sunday, the Trojans’ victim was St. Joseph’s (Pa.) in a 66-55 victory at the Sports Arena.

“I wish I could get them to understand that there shouldn’t be any difference between a game’s first five minutes and the last five, but they don’t seem to,” said USC Coach Chris Gobrecht, after watching her club rally while holding St. Joseph’s to two field goals in the last 2:08.

Friday, USC held UC Santa Barbara scoreless over the final 2:51 in a 60-55 victory.

In St. Joseph’s (1-2), the Trojans (2-2) were facing a team that had taken Pacific 10 Conference favorite Stanford into overtime at Palo Alto on Friday before losing, 79-72.

As it was in the victory over Santa Barbara, USC’s defense decided it.

St. Joseph’s 6-foot-1 junior forward from Ireland, Susan Moran, who scored 30 at Stanford, had 29 against USC, 19 by halftime.

Gobrecht assigned her to Carmen Krause, Tennille Grant, Ebony Hoffman and Tashara Carter in the first half, and none could handle Moran’s quick inside game.

In the second half, Gobrecht assigned 6-3 Denise Woods to Moran, and Moran scored only three more field goals.

“Moran was too savvy for us in the first half, too much of an understanding of the game,” Gobrecht said.

“But when we got a big, quick body on her [Woods], we pretty much contained her.”

Too early to compare USC to Stanford?

“Stanford is very big and they can beat you inside and outside,” St. Joseph’s Coach Stephanie Gaitley said. “ ‘SC can’t beat you from outside, but they’re very good defensively and very athletic.”