Taurasi Bails Out Connecticut

The USC women’s basketball team turned in a strong effort and took No. 1-ranked Connecticut to the edge of the biggest upset of the young season before falling, 72-69, Sunday afternoon at the Sports Arena, but Trojan Coach Chris Gobrecht thinks her team could have done more.

“We didn’t lose the game today playing our best basketball,” Gobrecht said. “I thought we were a little too content just to be in the game with them. We needed to pounce on the opportunity more and realize ‘maybe it’s OK for us to [be ahead].’ I’m not sure we believed that about ourselves.”

Connecticut (6-0) gained its 73rd consecutive regular-season victory because the Huskies’ force of nature, Diana Taurasi, had 25 points, including their last nine points in front of 6,172, the largest crowd to see USC women’s basketball at the Sports Arena since 1985.

Connecticut didn’t look nervous or panicky when USC assumed a 15-point first-half lead or when the Trojans fought off several Husky runs to regain a lead, 62-60, with 5:32 remaining.

Whether feeling the effects of four games in eight days, seven players taking final exams over the weekend or convinced the Trojans could not keep up with them, the Huskies could not have anticipated the battle they got from USC.

USC still had a chance to tie in the closing seconds, but Rachel Woodward’s three-point shot bounced off the back of the rim with 1.4 seconds left.

“From my view it was going in,” Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma said. “It was the way the game was supposed to end -- they were supposed to get the last shot to tie it. We had to play until the last shot of the game. USC deserved that.”

Not that this would totally soothe the Trojans.

“We did well, but we could have won the game,” said Ebony Hoffman, who led USC with 15 points, but only two in the second half. “We felt our defensive pressure would make them work hard. All we had to was put the dagger in, but we lost focus a little bit.”

In the first half, USC was near the top of its game, at one point leading, 37-22, with three minutes to play in the half. Mindful of how the Huskies like to keep defenders high on the perimeter while their inside players seal off the lanes and receive high lob passes for layups, USC worked hard at clogging the middle to make the entry passes more difficult.

When the Trojans had the ball, they were not afraid to take shots, whether the Huskies played man or zone defense.

“You can look at it as how could we be down 15 and it would be unfair to USC,” Auriemma said. “We didn’t give them a 15-point lead, they earned it. They outplayed us for long stretches of that first half.”

But instead of having Connecticut down by double digits at halftime, the Trojans had a lapse on defense in the final 10 seconds, letting Maria Conlon make a three-point shot, followed by Barbara Turner’s stealing the inbounds pass and making a 16-footer as time expired. A 38-28 cushion was shaved to 38-33.

“The one thing a great team does is make you pay when you’re not paying attention,” Gobrecht said.

The last time Connecticut had trailed at halftime was its Final Four semifinal against Texas in March, when the Huskies were down, 35-33. They have trailed in the second half only six times in two seasons.

Connecticut turned up its defense in the second half with full-court pressure and half-court traps. The Huskies took the lead at 55-54, with 10:12 to play and waited for USC to wilt.

It didn’t happen until the buzzer.