Size can be a pretty important factor in basketball.
The USC Trojans have size in bulky sophomore Ebony
Hoffman.
The Oregon women’s basketball team — void of a true
center — had nothing to counter in the paint.
Hoffman controlled the middle in an 83-73 USC win
Saturday at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, scoring a
career-high 27 points and grabbing a game-high 11
rebounds.
Oregon junior guard Shaquala Williams countered with a
season-high 29 points, five assists and three steals.
The stat of the game, though, was the Trojans’
rebounding — a 43-25 advantage.
“When you talk about second-chance efforts and
rebounding, USC deserved to win,” Oregon first-year
head coach Bev Smith said. “We were outhustled in the
first half, but we responded better in the second
half.”
USC (6-5 overall, 2-0 Pacific-10 Conference) led by as
much as 12 in the first half and entered the break
with a 43-34 lead.
Senior Edniesha Curry, who sat out the first half
after injurying her left foot during warmups, played
through the pain to start the second half, sparking
the Ducks (6-5, 1-1) to an 8-2 run to tie the game,
56-56, with 8:32 to play.
It was all USC from there.
Hoffman scored six points in the next three minutes on
a 12-0 Trojan run that put the game out of reach.
“(Hoffman) did very well for them,” Smith said. “We
could’ve been more aggressive in double-teaming her.”
Foul trouble was key to the Trojan win. USC hit
27-of-36 from the foul line while the Ducks were
13-of-19.
Senior post Alyssa Fredrick scored 19 points and had
six rebounds for the Ducks, who shot 47.5 percent from
the floor.
The Ducks return to McArthur Court for four home
games, starting with a bout against Washington on
Friday at 7 p.m.
Emerald sports editor Adam Jude can be reached at [email protected].