There’s no way of knowing if the outcome would have been
different, but the stage appeared set for Michelle Greco to have
the ball in her hands.
With the Bruins trailing crosstown rival USC by two points with
12 seconds to play, it was freshman Nikki Blue ““ and not
Greco ““ whose potential game-tying jumper fell short,
effectively sealing a 72-68 Trojan victory in front of 4,354 fans
at the Sports Arena on Saturday evening.
“In hindsight, maybe Greco should have shot it, but Nikki
has come through for us all year,” UCLA head coach Kathy
Olivier said. “They had one of their taller defenders on
Greco. Nikki usually makes that shot, but she just kind of
short-armed that one.”
Greco was hot. She had a game-high 28 points and nine rebounds,
but the Bruins (12-9, 7-5 Pac-10) were unable to halt their recent
free fall. Since starting 6-0 in conference play, the squad has
lost five of six and has sunk to fourth place in the Pac-10.
“Anytime a team starts out as well as we did, and then
loses some close games, it’s tough,” Olivier said.
“We have to get our swagger back.”
Although UCLA’s swarming full court pressure flustered the
Trojan backcourt into 22 turnovers, the Bruins had no answer
whatsoever for USC’s Ebony Hoffman. The powerful All-Pac-10
forward had her way with the undersized Bruin front line of Whitney
Jones and Jamila Veasley, particularly with the game on the
line.
After the Trojans’ Megan Gnekow secured Blue’s
errant jumper, she was fouled with 12 seconds to play, but failed
to convert either attempt from the charity stripe. With the USC
lead still a precarious two points, Hoffman outmuscled UCLA’s
Lisa Willis for the rebound after the second free throw and threw
up a wild shot, ultimately tipping in her own miss to give USC
(11-12, 6-6 Pac-10) a 70-66 lead with nine seconds remaining.
A Greco layup at the other end of the court got the Bruins
closer, but two Tiffany Hicks free throws provided the final
four-point margin for the Trojans.
Hoffman tallied 21 points in the game and pulled down a
career-high 20 rebounds.
“Ebony got the ball more times than she ever has against
us,” Olivier said. “If she didn’t get the ball,
then she went and got it off of rebounds. She was very hard to
handle.”
With the UCLA half-court defense focused on corralling Hoffman,
the Trojans had numerous open looks at the basket from behind the
arc. Junior guard Rometra Craig led the perimeter barrage with four
three-pointers and 18 points while the freshman Gnekow tallied
15.
“We knew they were going to double Ebony so the shooters
had to be ready once we got the ball,” Craig said. “We
had to take our time and keep our composure.”
While the balanced Trojan attack featured four players in double
figures, at times it seemed as if only Greco was a viable scoring
threat for UCLA. The All-American candidate had 13 of the
Bruins’ first 17 points, and no other player had more than
three points at halftime.
“We knew that Greco was the only one who could hurt
us,” Hoffman said. “If she gets 35 or 40, it’s OK
as long as the rest of the people don’t score.”
Willis did finish with a career-high 18 points for UCLA,
however, 16 of those came after the break.
With four of their last six games at home, the Bruins have an
opportunity to regain some momentum before the Pac-10 tournament in
March. Nonetheless, Saturday’s loss marks a missed
opportunity to rejuvenate a season that began with such
promise.
“This is a game we felt we needed to win, and that we
should have won,” Greco said. “To lose to USC in a
close game is frustrating. We have to get out of this slump, and
get back to knowing how to win.”
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
USC head coach Chris Gobrechdt announced that junior Jessica
Cheeks will miss the remainder of the season after leaving the team
due to personal reasons on Thursday.
Her loss coupled with the left knee injury that has sidelined
starting guard Aisha Hollans left the Trojans with just seven
scholarship players available against UCLA.