 |
 |
Jan. 6, 2006
For the third straight game, the USC women's basketball team had just two players finish in double figures. In the past, that hadn't been enough. On Friday night at the Lyon Center, however, it was plenty. Behind Eshaya Murphy's career-high 22 points and a 13-point effort from Camille LeNoir, the Women of Troy posted their first win over a top-10 team since 2004 in a 58-50 victory over No. 9 Arizona State.
The win interrupted a nine-game winning streak by the Sun Devils and pushed Arizona State to 12-2 overall and 3-1 in Pac-10 play. USC snapped a two-game losing skid with the victory to improve to 9-5 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-10. The win marked just the second time that USC has held its opponent to 50 or fewer points in a game.
After a troublesome road trip through the Bay Area the previous week, USC seemed to power right out of its slump and stayed right in stride with the Sun Devils. Trailing just 29-27 at halftime, the Trojans got a basket from Allison Jaskowiak -- who started the game and played a career-high 23 minutes -- and a baseline score from Meghan Gnekow to take a31-29 lead. Arizona State fought back and took back the lead thanks to three straight post scores from Kirsten Thompson. Murphy nailed a pair of free throws to get USC a slim one-point lead, but the Trojans wouldn't lead again until just under three minutes left in the game. Down 48-44, the Women of Troy upped their defensive tenacity and and took off on a 12-0 run sparked by a bucket from Murphy and another by LeNoir. On the next ASU possession, Brynn Cameron got a hand on a Sun Devil pass and Jaskowiak grabbed the deflection to get the Trojans back in the driver's seat. LeNoir nailed another key jumper to give USC a lead it would not relinquish. The Women of Troy tallied free throws the rest of the way and held ASU to just a pair of scores from the line to lock away the win.
|
|
 |
Kristen Kovesdy finished as the only Sun Devil in double figures. USC forced 23 ASU turnovers and nabbed 15 steals in the game, although the Sun Devils finished on top on the boards with 36 to USC's 33.
