Women of Troy to take on Oregon schools


The USC women’s basketball team will head up the Pacific this weekend to take on  No. 7-ranked Oregon State (18-1, 8-0 Pac-12) on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 2:30 p.m. in Corvallis and Oregon (8-11, 1-7 Pac-12) on Monday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. in Eugene.

The Women of Troy (11-8, 3-5 Pac-12) will look to end their current three-game losing skid. They’re coming off of a pair of home losses, a 67-53 loss to California and a 71-60 loss to Stanford. After a close first half against the Golden Bears, Cal got hot during the second half to put the game out of reach. The game against Stanford was a more consistent affair, but an early 15-1 run by the Cardinal put the Women of Troy in a hole quickly, and despite a strong effort, they were unable to dig themselves out of it.

Sophomore guard Jordan Adams led the team with a combined 32 points over the weekend, including her first career double-double against Stanford (21 points, 10 rebounds). Senior forward Kaneisha Horn also picked up a double-double against the Cardinal with 11 points and 11 rebounds, the second of her career.

“With the Stanford plays defense, they sag a lot sometimes, and they force us to make outside shots, and we just didn’t knock them down,” said Horn. “If we would’ve had more balanced scoring with the starting five and the people coming off the bench, I think it would’ve been a different game.”

Senior forward Alexyz Vaioletama leads the team with 12.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Freshman guard McKenzie Calvert is averaging 10.9 points, while junior guard Brianna Barrett has 10.5 points per game, and leads the team with 4.2 assists.

The Women of Troy will look to get more production off of their bench, which only scored a combined 13 points over their last two games.

“We have a few things that we need to work out, but scoring off the bench is just one of them,” said Cooper.

USC split their two games against Oregon State and Oregon early this year, using a strong second-half to beat the Ducks 70-54, but falling 76-66 to the Beavers. USC is 44-17 all-time against Oregon and the winner of three straight in the series, and 41-21 all-time against Oregon State, including 2-1 last season.

USC’s three-game losing streak has dropped them down to No. 8 in the Pac-12 standings, but head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke isn’t especially focused on that.

“I don’t know if there’s any more pressure than I feel right now,” said Cooper. “I’m not a big pressure person. Every game is important for me, so just because they’re Cal and Stanford didn’t make it any more or any less pressure than I feel going up to the Oregon schools. For us, we need to get back on the winning track, and we do that by digging our heels in the ground, playing solid defense, and making some plays.”

Ruth Hamblin leads Oregon State with 14.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.  Jamie Weisner has 13.1 points and 6.5 points per game, while Sydney Wiese is averaging 12.3 points and a team-leading 6.1 assists per game. The Beavers are coming off a 73-55 win over Arizona, and a 68-57 win over then No. 13 ranked Arizona State.

Meanwhile, Oregon is coming off a 70-58 loss to the Sun Devils and an 81-78 overtime loss to the Wildcats. The Ducks are led by Jillian Alleyne’s 16.5 points and 14.7 rebounds per game, with Lexi Bando adding 11.4 points per game and Lexi Petersen adding 11.2 points and 4.1 assists per game. Alleyne has led his team with double-digit rebounds in every game this season.

The Women of Troy will return home the following weekend to try and sweep Utah (6-13, 0-8 Pac-12) on Friday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. and Colorado (9-10, 2-6      Pac-12) on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 12 p.m.

They will then head up to the Bay Area, looking for revenge against Stanford on Friday, Feb. 13 at 6:00 p.m. and California on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m.