USC Struggles in Victory

The USC women’s basketball team played poorly at the start, and less than average at the finish. But the Trojans did enough things in between to escape with a 59-53 win over Loyola Marymount on Tuesday night at Gersten Pavilion.

Guards Jamie Hagiya and Camille LeNoir each scored 13 points, and forward Jamie Funn had 10 points and 11 rebounds to help USC improve to 4-2.

But it was another rough night for Coach Mark Trakh, who watched his team struggle from the field (34.4% shooting) and not be able to close out a team once the lead reached double digits.

“We’re not in sync right now,” Trakh said. “We’re really not playing well together. But we have all [the injured players] back now, we’ll start working them into a rotation, and hopefully we’ll get a little better.”

Lion forward Ashlee Dunlap had 15 points and 11 rebounds, but could not keep Loyola Marymount (1-6) from losing its fifth straight.

“We’re not discouraged,” Coach Julie Wilhoit said. “We scheduled these games against top 25 teams to learn, to grow, to challenge ourselves.”

USC missed its first nine shots, and didn’t make a field goal until LeNoir’s layup at the 13:48 mark. The Lions weren’t blazing either; they made only seven of 27 shots in the first half.

-- Mike Terry

San Diego 94, UC Riverside 67 -- Gyno Pomare scored 21 points and Nick Lewis had 20 as the host Toreros (5-2) kept the Highlanders (0-5) winless. Houston Power led Riverside with 13 points.

Montana 79, Loyola Marymount 61 -- Andrew Strait and Kevin Criswell each scored 17 points as the host Grizzlies (5-1) won their fifth in a row. Matthew Knight led the Lions (2-5) with 22 points and 11 rebounds.