NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : USC Must Settle for 79-67 Loss : Iowa Moves Into West Regional Final at Long Beach

The reward for overachievers lies in the fact that they achieve at all. This is what will have to console USC’s women’s basketball team.

For a long time Thursday night in the West Regional semifinal at Cal State Long Beach, longer than most would have thought, USC was playing nearly as well as Iowa. Nearly.

But the reality of the game was that the Trojans (22-8) ended their surprising season with a loss as top-seeded Iowa (29-1) beat USC, 79-67, before a boisterous crowd of 2,103.

That the score was this close was remarkable. Few outside the USC locker room believed the Trojans could win. Iowa is No. 2 in the nation and is a cool and efficient team. USC is emotional and scrappy.

Still, the Trojans can call on tradition at times like these. They have won two national titles and have been in every NCAA tournament.

Iowa had only a three-point lead at halftime, but USC managed to score only four points in the first five minutes of the second half. Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes scored 10.

It certainly looked as if USC was in over its head. Perhaps it had occurred to the Trojans that this was the Iowa team that had spent eight weeks as No. 1 and the same team that no other team could beat for much of season.

But that’s what happens to the Trojans--everyone counts them out and it makes them mad. This could have accounted for USC’s surge midway through the half. The Trojans pulled within two points with 8:47 left.

Iowa responded immediately. The shooting and defense of All-American guard Michelle Edwards--her teammates call her ‘Ice’--effectively froze out any USC chance of going ahead.

Edwards led all scorers with 22 points. Shanda Berry, the Hawkeyes’ center, had only two points in the first half but found another gear in the second. She finished with 15 points and 17 rebounds.

Iowa out-rebounded USC, 48-33.

For the Trojans, Cherie Nelson had 21 points, while seniors Paula Pyers and Holly Ford played excellent games. Pyers had 10 assists, and Ford, a deadly accurate shooter, scored 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line.

Karon Howell had 13 points and was responsible for nearly half of the Trojans’ rebounds with 13.

After allowing USC to close within two points, Iowa took a nine-point lead, 67-58, with 7:23 left. The Hawkeyes then put the game away with accurate shooting. They shot 54% in the second half and 44% in the game.

Iowa was cold at the start, missing its first four shots. The Hawkeyes corrected that but never really unleashed any firepower--they shot 36% in the first half.

Iowa did dominate one important statistic, however. The Trojans were out-rebounded in shocking fashion, 28-18, in the first half. Iowa used that superiority on the boards to jump-start its running game, which kept USC chasing from behind.

The Hawkeyes advanced to the regional final Saturday night against Cal State Long Beach at Long Beach.