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Jan. 4, 2009
Watch the USC vs OREGON STATE FULL GAME
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - The USC women's basketball team picked off a season-high 15 steals in another strong defensive home effort as the Women of Troy powered past visiting Oregon State for a 78-54 win on Sunday afternoon at the Galen Center. Led by a season-high 20 points from Brynn Cameron, 19 from Heather Oliver and 12 from Briana Gilbreath, the Trojans overcame slow starts in each half to tack up a Pac-10 win over the Beavers. USC improves to 8-5 overall and is now 2-0 in Pac-10 play with the win, while Oregon State moves to 9-3, 0-2.
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Brynn Cameron had a set new season-high for herself by halftime of USC's matchup against Oregon State, dumping in four 3-pointers and going 7-of-8 from the floor for 18 points as the Trojans led the Beavers 41-21 at half. USC trailed 5-0 to open the game, but improved its shooting effort to 42.5 percent with Oliver and Cameron in double figures. OSU was hitting at a 43.8 percent clip, but was behind on the boards to the Trojans 21-13. The Trojan defense also pestered 21 turnovers out of the Beavers in the half and had scored 17 points off of OSU turnovers by halftime. After a 13-0 scoring run from the Beavers to open the second half, USC woke up and pieced together 11 straight to work back into a more comfortable position down the stretch. The Trojans rounded out the game shooting 44.9 percent to OSU's 41.5 percent, and beat out the Beavers on the boards 39-25. OSU committed 33 turnovers thanks in part to 15 USC steals.
Cameron got to double figures early with a long three at 11:30 in the first half to push USC ahead 19-11, giving the senior just over half USC's points through that mark of the game. Another Cameron three - her third of the day - lifted the Trojans ahead 28-16 at 8:10 to further erase memories of Oregon State's early 5-0 lead. A fourth 3-pointer from Cameron came at the 3-minute mark to boost USC up 37-20 until she followed it with another nice move into the paint for a pullup jumper that made it six straight buckets for Cameron and a 7-of-8 shooting effort from the floor for the senior in the half. Briana Gilbreath followed another USC defensive stop with a score in the lane to make it 41-21. Camille LeNoir closed out the half with a flashy dribble and flip out to Heather Oliver behind the arc, setting up a long-range three from Oliver to finish the half with a 44-21 USC advantage.
Oregon State found an offensive spark to open the second half, scoring the first 13 points of the half to cut into USC's lead and make it 44-34 until the Trojans snapped 6 and a half minutes of scoring silence with a free throw from Oliver at 13:31 to make it 45-34 USC. Oliver nabbed a steal next, and Nadia Parker finished at the other end for her first points of the game. Gilbreath slipped six points in just over a minute next to get into double digits and take the Trojans out to a 55-34 lead at 11:20. OSU would work back to within 17 again, only to have Cameron knock down a jumper that would help send off the Trojans on another scoring spurt. Parker served up a booming block, and a Gilbreath steal fed into a runner from Corral. Hailey Dunham would pick off a pass next for USC, and she sent a pass down to Gilbreath for a layup and a 65-43 USC lead at 6:08. Later in the half, Aarika Hughes put in a score off a rebound, LeNoir landed a long two, and Oliver scored back-to-back buckets to get to 19 points on the day and push USC up 78-53 with just under two minutes remaining in the game.
USC's next action takes the Trojans across town to visit UCLA in a 2:30 p.m. televised game on Sunday (Jan. 11) at Pauley Pavilion.
GAME NOTES:
- USC had a season-high 15 steals.
- Brynn Cameron had a season-high 20 points and 3 steals.
- Heather Oliver had a season-high 19 points and 7 rebounds.
- Aarika Hughes had a career high 3 steals.
- Briana Gilbreath had a career-high 3 steals.
- Nadia Parker had a season-high 4 blocks.
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