Trakh believes Trojans are peaking at the right time


Sophomore guard Endyia Rogers has led the Trojans offense averaging 16.7 points per game. (James Wolfe | Daily Trojan)

With only three games left in the regular season for the Trojans, they have their eyes set on a critical doubleheader this weekend at Galen Center. The Trojans will start the pair of games with Oregon State on Friday, followed by No. 13 Oregon Sunday. The Trojans are fifth in the Pac-12 standings, sitting at 10-8 overall and 8-7 in the conference. Oregon State finds themselves at 6-6 overall and 4-6 in the conference as they are ninth in the conference. 

Having split a pair of games last weekend with a 56-66 loss against Colorado and a redemption win against Utah, USC looks to start its home stand strong against the Beavers. 

The Trojans missed their first opportunity to showcase their talent against the Beavers in the season opener in January when the matchup was postponed indefinitely due to coronavirus protocols.  

Now, the Trojans are starting to find their rhythm as key players such as redshirt-sophomore guard Shalexxus Aaron, sophomore guard Endyia Rogers and sophomore forward Alissa Pili start to emerge into the spotlight.

Aaron was on a hot streak in her previous game against Utah, scoring 10 straight points to end the game with 16. Rogers recorded 17 points and Pili dominated the paint even though her box score only showed eight points. 

Sophomore guard Alyson Miura contributed with 10 points to help the Trojans secure their win against the Utes. Head coach Mark Trakh understands that USC can’t start slow against OSU because of the Beavers’ ability to shoot the ball and score in bunches. OSU’s height advantage in the paint can also pose problems for the Trojans. 

“We have to defend them,” Trakh said. “Everyone on Oregon State can shoot, everyone’s got deep range. So we got to push up on them. We have to close out on the shooters because that’s their strength. And they got a great post player that’s about 6’4” who can really score around the basket, so you really can’t leave any of the shooters to double to her. So the whole thing will be guarding the post and going out on the three-point shooters.” 

The Beavers are coming off a blowout loss against Stanford last week. Freshman guard Sasha Goforth led the team in the game with 16 points. This season’s top scorer for OSU, senior guard Aleah Goodman, contributed 12 points of her own while the team’s leading rebounder sophomore forward Taylor Jones chipped in with 13 points and 15 rebounds. 

Trakh gave high praise to his own team’s firepower — for the first time in program history, three different players have been awarded conference Player of the Week: Pili, Rogers and Sanders. 

Understanding that no one key individual is solely responsible for the Trojans’ success allows USC to function as a complete team every game.

“We basically do it by committee … First time in USC women’s basketball history that we’ve had three different Pac-12 women’s players of the week,” Trakh said. “So with Jordan Sanders, Endyia Rogers and Alissa Pili. So we don’t rely on one person, you know we just see who’s hot for any one game but we generally do that by committee.” 

With the NCAA tournament knocking on the door for both teams, the Trojans have to finish out the season with matchups against three quality opponents to improve their chances of qualifying. The Trojans hope to keep everyone available for the stretch run, as their biggest enemy this season has seemingly been injuries. 

“We’re a young team that is getting better. I think we won eight out of our last 10 games,” Trakh said. “So I would like to see us compete. You know we are on the bubble as far as NCAA tournament bid which is great considering that we started the year with seven players and only five in conference and now we’re on the bubble. The first four out of the NCAA tournament and we finish with Oregon State and Oregon and UCLA, three quality opponents. So we got a great chance to make a case for the NCAA tournament going into the last three games of the season.” 


The Trojans are 44-29 all-time against Oregon State, starting in the 1967-77 season. Last season at home USC beat the then No. 11 ranked Beavers 72-66. Tip-off is at 2:30 p.m. Friday.