USC women outrun Oregon, 80-76

In the off-season, the USC women’s players spent a lot of time running, on orders from first-year Coach Michael Cooper. On Friday, against an Oregon team that never stops running, it paid off.

The third-seeded Trojans got caught up in sixth-seeded Ducks’ fastbreak offense Friday, but beat the Ducks at their own game, winning 80-76, at the Galen Center to advance to Saturday’s semifinal round of the State Farm Pac-10 women’s tournament.

“All that running, you know it’s going to pay off in the end, so it motivates us to get through practice,” Trojans forward Christina Marinacci said.

USC’s Ashley Corral made a three-point shot with 24 seconds left to give the Trojans a 76-71 lead, which, after some turnovers, missed shots and made free throws, proved enough to hold off the Ducks.

Briana Gilbreath, the Pac-10 co-defensive player of the year, starred for the Trojans with 19 points (15 in the second half), seven rebounds, five steals, four blocks and four assists. Her defense single-handedly flustered Oregon in spots, but Ducks Coach Paul Westhead was pleased with his team’s effort.

“Our two key players had 40-some points between them, so it wasn’t like they got shut down,” Westhead said, speaking of Taylor Lilley (22 points) and Nia Jackson (18 points). “But their defenders were making it very difficult.”

Said Cooper, who is 2-1 this season against Oregon: “They’re a team that you’ve got to put your track shoes on and come ready to play. We got after them and they got after us.”

The victory gives the Trojans 19 wins, and Cooper said if they can get 20, they’ll have a good chance to get in the NCAA tournament. Still, he said, with the schedule the team has played “hopefully this does put us in.”

Stanford 72, Arizona 52: The top-seeded Cardinal got a spark from Jayne Appel, who wasn’t expected to play because of a sprained right ankle.

Appel, the Pac-10’s all-time leading rebounder, checked into the game with 13 minutes 20 seconds left in the second half and Stanford leading, 43-40. In 10 minutes, she had seven points and three rebounds, but her impact was clear.

“I was kind of wanting to maybe give her one more day of rest… but I think it worked out really well,” Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Appel said she forgot about her ankle after a few minutes, but that it’s a “day-to-day thing in trying to get the swelling out.”

Nnemkadi Ogwumike, the conference’s player of the year, led the Cardinal with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

California 60, Arizona State 50: The fourth-seeded Golden Bears pulled away from the Sun Devils behind the play of center DeNesha Stallworth and guard Alexis Gray-Lawson, who combined for 29 points.

There was a scary moment early in the game when Cal’s Rachelle Federico was assessed a flagrant foul and ejected after she swung an elbow, hitting Arizona State’s Danielle Orsillo in the face. Orsillo, who led the Sun Devils with eight points, lay on the court for several seconds after being struck. Her right cheek appeared swollen after the game.