USC Finds the Zone and Beats Louisville

Snow-covered roadways. Temperatures hovering in the 30s. Skies the color of gray primer paint.

But the USC Trojans did not travel all the way to Minnesota for spring break. They came for the NCAA tournament, something the Trojans had not been invited to since 1997.

It won’t be a short trip. By getting into “the zone” against ninth-seeded Louisville -- specifically a 2-3 zone that spread out the Cardinals and took away the inside game of leading scorers Missy Taylor and Jazz Covington -- the eighth-seeded Trojans pounded out a 65-49 first-round victory Saturday in Williams Arena.

USC (20-10) advances to Monday’s second-round game against top-seeded Michigan State. Louisville ends its season at 22-9.

“We wanted to represent the Pac-10 well, and I think we did that,” said Trojan Coach Mark Trakh, who was 0-3 in his previous NCAA tournament first-round games while coaching at Pepperdine.

“I thought the key in the game was the zone defense. We wanted Louisville to hit from the outside and try to take away anything inside to Covington. And I think the kids did that really well.”

It was one of several things the Trojans did well. They had a decisive edge in rebounding (45-32), which often limited the Cardinals to one shot. They forced 16 Louisville turnovers and had only nine of their own. And USC shot well, relatively speaking, making 39.1% of their attempts (27 of 69) to 35.8% by the Cardinals (19 of 53).

USC is 10-1 this season when it shoots better than the opponent, with the loss being to Stanford two weeks ago.

The scoring, as usual, was a group effort. Nine players contributed at least two points, and four were in double figures, led by Chloe Kerr, who had 14 points off the bench. Kerr’s total matched the career-high she had against Stanford in the Pacific 10 Conference tournament.

“My teammates and coaches have been giving me the confidence” to shoot more in the low post, said Kerr, a sophomore, who came in averaging 3.3 points. “It’s been there all season but now ... whatever I can contribute I want to do that.”

The Trojans, who typically use 10 to 12 players, wanted to keep the tempo fast and take the legs away from the Cardinals, who usually keep their rotation to seven or eight.

It didn’t have an effect the first 12 minutes. Louisville was passing fluidly in their half-court offense and making enough shots early (eight of 17) to lead, 20-16. But the momentum soon switched.

The USC zone locked up Louisville, which went scoreless for 6 minutes 15 seconds. USC surged ahead, 24-20, on its way to a 28-25 halftime lead.

The Trojans kept up the defensive pressure and early in the second half forced another Louisville dry spell. This one lasted 7:34 as USC went on an 18-0 run, expanding its lead to 53-31. Covington, who had 13 points, and Taylor, who had 11, were never in a position to hurt the Trojans, and Louisville didn’t get closer than the final score.

“We could see they were tired in the second half, so we didn’t want to let up,” said USC point guard Camille LeNoir, who had 13 points and seven assists. “We wanted to keep running them.”

*

UP NEXT FOR USC

Monday vs. top-seeded Michigan State (29-3) -- As expected, the Spartans had no trouble eliminating 16th-seeded Alcorn State. Michigan State had an enormous rebounding advantage, 62-29, in winning their 13th in a row and 17th in the last 18. The Trojans and Spartans have played twice before and USC has a 2-0 series lead. The last meeting was on Dec. 30, 1992, with USC winning, 66-50.

*

-- Mike Terry