Emotions Cloud USC Victory

The final score read 67-47 in favor of USC, which got a season-high 19 points from guard Rometra Craig. The numbers suggest the Trojans had dominated the California Bears in a Pac-10 game Friday, before 719 at the Sports Arena.

But numbers had little to do with this game. Friday was the first game for Cal since the death of junior forward Alisa Lewis, 20, who died Monday of bacterial meningitis. The tragedy hung over both teams like a heavy fog, and for the most part it was a game both teams couldn’t wait to end.

“It was tough for us, but what they had to do was 10 times tougher than what we had to do,” said USC Coach Chris Gobrecht, who appeared to be fighting her own emotions afterward. “I don’t think anybody wanted it to be ‘this game.’ But we needed to honor the spirit of the game and the fact that Cal wanted to play.”

At the end of the game, Cal Coach Caren Horstmeyer lost her battle with her emotions and ran to the side of the Sports Arena to weep for several minutes. She composed herself before speaking to the media.

Her players spoke afterward with soft voices and watery eyes.

“It was very difficult to go on the court,” said Bear guard LaTasha O’Keith, who scored eight points. “But we knew we had to go forward and play today. If we had stayed home and just played Sunday [at UCLA] it still would have been hard. This is something we have to get through. We keep thinking about her.”

To remember Lewis, the team wore black square patches with the initials “A.L.” and Lewis’ uniform number “31” trimmed in pink. The Bears’ coaches wore pink ribbons. Pink was Lewis’ favorite color.

Thursday’s memorial in the Berkeley campus gym did, in Horstmeyer’s mind, bring the Bears a sense of closure. But the team had only a day and a half of actual practice and preparation for USC. And once the game started, Horstmeyer could not be certain which team would show up -- one that was highly emotional and desperate to win in memory of Lewis, or a team that was still numb and would go through the motions.

“I know right now they are mentally and physically fatigued with everything,” Horstmeyer said. “Alisa’s passion was playing hard. If we want to honor her, then go out and play as hard as you can. That’s honoring her.”

The best of Cal was largely absent in the first half. The Bears (9-8, 2-6) made only four of 23 shots (17.4%) and had 22 turnovers, many of them just bad passes. It wasn’t so much a lack of effort but rather an inability to find a rhythm.

After a ragged start by both teams -- USC had an 11-4 lead after 10 minutes -- the Trojans (9-7, 6-2) slowly began to smooth out some rough spots on offense. Despite committing 18 turnovers themselves, the Trojans finished the half on a 19-6 run to lead comfortably, 30-10.

“The atmosphere was hard, because we knew [Cal] would come out with a different sort of spirit,” said Trojan forward Ebony Hoffman, who had 15 points. “We humbled ourselves knowing the situation they were going through.... We respected them wanting to play the game and it was a heartfelt game out there. But you could see even though they wanted to play the game, something wasn’t right out there.”

Cal had more energy in the second half, but the Bears never got closer than 14 points.

Nihan Anaz led Cal with 14 points.