December 29, 1996

USC Falls To Western Kentucky in Two Overtimes, 85-82

LOS ANGELES, CA -- The Western Kentucky women's basketball team needed two overtimes to do it, but the No. 9 Lady Toppers defeated USC, 85-82, in front of 732 at the Sports Arena in the final game of the Pac-10/Sun Belt Challenge on Sunday (Dec. 29).

The win gave Western Kentucky Coach Paul Sanderford his 350th career win with the Lady Toppers. Western Kentucky improves to 7-2 while USC falls to 6-3.

USC senior center Michelle Campbell led all scorers with a career-high 25 points and 12 rebounds, USC sophomore Jodi Parriott had a career-high 22 points and USC senior forward Tina Thompson had 21. Sophomore forward Shea Lunsford led Western Kentucky with 17 points and junior center Leslie Johnson added 16.

Lunsford put the Lady Toppers up for good at 82-80 in double overtime. USC had a chance to tie the game at the end, but senior guard Erica Jackson's 3-point attempt was off.

Freshman guard Jamie Walz's layup with 19.2 seconds to play in the first overtime looked to give the Lady Toppers the win, but Parriott's rebound and putback of sophomore guard Kristin Clark's miss with 3.8 seconds left tied the game at 76. Parriott had a chance to put USC ahead but missed a foul shot after her game-tying basket.

Western Kentucky went up 64-61 with just more than a minute to play in regulation on Walz's 3-pointer, but USC tied the game at 64-64 with less than a minute to go on a Parriott basket. Each team missed on their one chance to go up in the last minute.

Western Kentucky got its first lead since early in the first half on a Laurie Townsend basket to put the Lady Toppers up 44-43 early in the second half. Neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.

USC went up 20-9 on Parriott's 3-pointer 7 minutes into the contest, and after a Lady Topper 3-pointer, went on a 9-0 run to take a 29-12 lead with 10:43 to go in the first half, forcing a Western Kentucky timeout.

Western Kentucky used a 13-0 run to cut USC's lead to 35-31, before Campbell ended the USC drought with a 15-footer with a minute to play in the half. USC finished the first half up, 37-33.

The Pac-10/Sunbelt Challenge MVP was USC senior forward Tina Thompson. The All-Tournament team included UCLA freshman forward Maylana Martin, UCLA junior guard Tawana Grimes, New Orleans sophomore forward Jenny Anderson, Western Kentucky center Leslie Johnson and USC senior center Michelle Campbell. UCLA junior forward Aisha Veasley was given the Individual Spirit Award.

USC next plays in its Pac-10 opener at Washington on Jan. 2. Western Kentucky next hosts Iowa on Jan. 2.

Final Box Score

USC (82)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Thompson        44  7-17   5-9   4-9  1  5   21
Williams        15   0-5   0-0   1-2  2  1    0
Campbell        46 11-16   3-6  5-12  0  3   25
Jackson         43   1-8   0-0   2-3 10  2    2
Kr Clark        50  5-19   1-2   2-4  8  3   12
Parriott        41  9-16   2-4   1-4  1  3   22
Miller           7   0-1   0-0   0-0  1  0    0
Washington       4   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         250 33-83 11-21 15-35 23 17   82
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Percentages: FG-.398, FT-.524. 3-Point Goals:
5-20, .250 (Thompson 2-5, Jackson 0-2, Kr Clark
1-9, Parriott 2-4). Team rebounds: 8. Blocked
shots: 10 (Campbell 7, Thompson 2, Parriott).
Turnovers: 19 (Kr Clark 5, Campbell 3, Jackson 3,
Williams 3, Parriott 2, Thompson 2). Steals: 11
(Thompson 5, Campbell, Jackson, Kr Clark, Miller,
Washington, Williams).
WESTERN KY (85)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Mcculley        47  3-15   2-2   2-7  5  4    8
Lunsford        35  7-10   3-6  2-11  1  4   17
Johnson         36  7-14   2-3   4-8  2  3   16
Townsend        33   2-5   5-5   0-1  3  1   10
Walz            38  5-12   2-2   2-7  3  1   15
Bronner         16   3-4   1-2   2-4  0  1    7
Hartley         12   2-5   0-2   1-1  0  1    4
Britt            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Pinnix           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Gamble          28   4-5   0-0   2-4  4  2    8
Allen            3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         250 33-70 15-22 15-43 18 18   85
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Percentages: FG-.471, FT-.682. 3-Point Goals:
4-10, .400 (Mcculley 0-1, Townsend 1-2, Walz 3-6,
Bronner 0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 1
(Hartley). Turnovers: 255 (Mcculley 5, Walz 5,
Bronner 4, Townsend 4, Johnson 3, Lunsford 2,
Britt, Hartley). Steals: 10 (Lunsford 5, Mcculley
2, Hartley, Johnson, Townsend).
____________________________________________
Usc                37   27   12    6  -   82
Western Ky         33   31   12    9  -   85
____________________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 732. Officials:
Melissa Barlow, Stan Gaxiola.