Women’s basketball preps for Washington road trip

This weekend, the women’s basketball team will head north to Washington to take on the Huskies and the Cougars. Coming off two losses to Stanford and Cal, the Women of Troy look to score a couple wins against a pair of struggling Washington teams. Washington State sits at 9-11 including a 2-6 Pac-12 conference record while Washington stands at 7-12, with  a 1-7 conference record. With two losses against Cal and Stanford, the Women of Troy are now 13-6 with a 3-5 conference record.

On Friday, Washington State will host USC after losing to crosstown rival Washington last weekend. Redshirt sophomore forward Borislava Hristova leads Washington State as she is the focal point of the offense and a very capable scoring machine. She averages 18.6 points to go along with 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals; she is very versatile on the offensive end, able to shoot from deep (33 percent from 3-point land) and finds ways to get herself to the free throw line — where she averages 3.3 attempts from the line and connects on 73 percent of her tries. However, the team lacks depth to support their scoring machine — though sophomore guard Chanelle Molina has emerged as a capable scoring option in recent games for the Cougars.

“We’re probably going to put one of our best defensive players on [Borislava Hristova] and deny her touches, maybe limit her shots and just get up into her and make her put the ball on the floor,” head coach Mark Trakh said. “It’s going to be a tough matchup because she’s a really good player but we’re very conscious of what she can do and we’ve schemed to try and take her out of the game.”

On Sunday, USC will play Washington. After their matchup against Washington State, sophomore guard Amber Melgoza leads the Huskies with 17.1 points per game. Sophomore forward Mai-Loni Henson and senior guard Jenna Moser are also offensive threats. Henson averages 9.9 points while Moser is a sharpshooting guard who, despite averaging a modest 9.6 points, is shooting 41.8 percent from 3-point range and compiles 2.1 steals and 2.8 assists per game. Washington is also a great offensive rebounding team, an area that hampered USC in its losses against Cal and Stanford. Washington not only faces problems with depth but also faces problems with inefficient scoring as the team collectively shoots 38.7 percent from the field per game, including 31 percent from deep.

“We’ve been outrebounded but we haven’t been outrebounded by that much,” Trakh said. “We don’t start a kid over six foot so that’s part of our problem but I think the kids have a lot of heart. Rebounding is all heart, that’s nothing to do with size. I think we just got to box out because Washington plays hard and they rebound so we’re going to have to box out, we’re going to have to go to the rim, fly at the ball. I think we’re going to be okay in that respect. We know how they play and we’ve got to box out and fly at the ball.”

Despite tough losses against Cal and Stanford, USC is hoping to get back on track in a prime opportunity to take two wins against struggling Washington teams. Rebounding will be key as both Washington teams are more than capable of crashing the offensive glass, something USC has struggled to contest in their games against Stanford and Cal. Controlling the rebounds to limit opponents’ second chance opportunities could well be the deciding factor. The defense will also have to key in on their lead scorers, especially Washington State’s redshirt sophomore forward Borislava Hristova, as they are capable of scoring in bunches.

“Main factors is just good defense, taking good shots on offense, playing together basically,” sophomore guard Minyon Moore said. “We have to get these two wins in a row and I think if we just do our roles, play good defense and execute on offense, we’ll win these two games.”

Trakh discussed the Trojans’ biggest battle for each opponent.

“Against Washington State is if we can attack their matchup zone and against Washington it’s going to be handling their full court pressure, they’re going to play ten people equally and our bench is not very deep as far as bringing guards ins,” Trakh said. “So against Washington State, it’s attacking their matchup zone, defending their sets. Against Washington, it’s about handling their pressure; they’ll substitute 10 people and press for 40 minutes so it’s how well we handle that and getting good shots against both teams.”

The starters have played very well in recent games. Junior guard Aliyah Mazyck has played well on both offense and defense in recent games as she has helped USC space the offense with her shooting and has disrupted teams on the defensive end. Senior forward Kristen Simon has also been a consistent presence in the low block and was key in fouling out junior forward Kristine Anigwe when USC played Cal. Moore compiled one of her best games to date, with 19 points, five rebounds, one assist, two blocks and three steals against Cal.

Graduate student guard Jordan Adams and senior guard Sadie Edwards both contributed in the match with Adams recording a total of 15 rebounds over their last two games and Edwards providing a defensive wing presence by compiling four blocks and three steals in the past two games. USC will continue to rely on their stellar performance against Washington and Washington State.

“Basically we have the same five we had last year, we have the same core as we had last year so I think that chemistry and just having experience playing on the court together,” Moore said. “We’ve gotten to know our tendencies and whatnot so it’s been really easy to play with the other four girls because everyone just plays their role and we do really good together.”

The Trojans play the Cougars on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Huskies on Sunday at 2 p.m. Pac-12 Network will not be showing the games, but the games can be watched from Washington and Washington State’s own live streams.