Women of Troy begin season with youthful hope

 

Last Friday’s exhibition game against Cal State Los Angeles was a particularly special day for the women’s basketball team. USC head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke reunited with former Trojan teammate and women’s basketball icon Cheryl Miller, who is in her first season coaching Cal State. Prior to the game, Cooper-Dyke presented Miller with a gift and the two legends shared an emotional embrace. When the tears subsided, fans at the Galen Center were presented with a preview of what looks to be a promising 2016-2017 campaign.

“I think we are prepared,” Cooper-Dyke said. “We’re young. We have some veteran leadership which is great, but I think we’re young, so you’re going to have your ups and downs.”

This season, the Women of Troy have five freshmen; a high number that shows the team is in a transitionary period. However, performances by two freshmen, guard Minyon Moore, who scored 13 with four assists, and forward Ja’Tavia Tapley, who added 10 points in the 85-39 victory, indicate that youth may not necessarily be a bad thing.

As far as veterans, the Trojans return plenty of high-profile talent. The team brings back four players who averaged double figures last season, including second leading scorer in redshirt senior guard Jordan Adams. Two experienced players, junior forward Kristen Simon and senior guard Courtney Jaco impressed the most on Friday. The 6-foot-2 Simon scored 20 points with seven rebounds while Jaco, who has the fifth most 3-pointers in school history, shot her way to 17 points on a characteristic five 3s. In addition to returning players, USC adds center Ivana Jakubcova, a 6-6 senior transfer from Kentucky. She amassed 6 points and 6 rebounds in her debut.

Asked who on the team was poised to have a breakout season, Simon was confident in the leaders of the team.

“I think Courtney will,” Simon said. “I think she had a great year last year. She played the two all her life and she came in at the one last year and really did well, so I think she’ll have a breakout season.”

This season, USC will look to improve on an uneven 2015-2016 season. The Trojans initially jumped out to a 12-0 start, but floundered once conference play began. They ultimately finished with a 19-13 record, missing the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.

“Offensively, I just thought we were inconsistent last year,” Cooper-Dyke said. “We didn’t always share the ball. Today was a perfect example of sharing the ball, where we had in the first two quarters seven assists and in the third and fourth quarter we ended up with 21 assists. That’s sharing the ball, that’s team basketball, that’s how we are going to compete in the Pac-12.”

Perhaps the biggest difference between this year’s team and last year’s team will be height. For the first time in program history, USC has five players who are taller than 6-foot-3, an astounding number that will certainly give the team a towering advantage. The Trojans carried a modest +0.7 rebounding margin per game last year. However with the likes of Jakubcova (6-6) and Dani Milisic (6-4) among others, that number is likely to improve.

It was fitting that the season began with a matchup between Miller and Cooper-Dyke. This year, the new Women of Troy will look to expand on the legacy that those two created and try to carve their own paths as the next generation of female USC student athletes. That quest will continue when the Trojans officially tip-off the season against Hawai’i this Friday at the Galen Center.

“We paved a way,” said Cooper-Dyke of her and Miller’s contributions. “Now it’s time for them to put their own bricks down that path.”