|
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- With the Stanford net having been cut down and the post-game press conferences over, the lights have been dimmed at The Galen Center on USC's campus and the 2009 Pac-10 Women's Basketball Conference is officially in the record books.
Adding to the entries from this weekend's tournament include the following milestones all set by Stanford:
- Twenty-five point margin of victory is the most in title game history.
- The 89 points scored werethe mos scored in a Tournamen title game.
- Touranment championship records set for rebounds (48), field goals made (35), field goals attempted (71) and field goal percentage (.493)
In addition, Stanford has been the No. 1 seed every single year which has earned them the ability to play as the home team in every game.
USC may have been on the losing end of tonight's game, but they enjoyed a few milestones of their own:
- They are the lowest seeded team to have reached the championship game.
- Camille LeNoir's 56 points scored over the three days the Women of Troy played are were the sixth most (tie) in Tournament history.
Even though there could only be one champion at the end of the weekend, all ten teams participating came away winners as every point, rebound and loose ball was fought for until the end.
Until next year when the 2010 Pac-10 Women's Basketball Tournament returns to the Galen Center, that's all for 2009.
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The All-Pac-10 Turnament Team has been announced as follows:
Most Outstanding Player - Kayla Pedersen* - Stanford
Jillian Harmon - Stanford
Camille LeNoir - USC
Atonye Nyingifa - UCLA
Nnemkadi Ogwumie - Stanford
Ashley Walker - California
*A two-time selection and the second sophomore to be the Most Outstanding player.
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Unlike last night's USC game, this game ended without any official reviews or delayed calls. Instead, it has been since the 6:32 mark when Stanford extended its lead to 15 that this game has been all about The Cardinal.
Yes, Stanford has just won the 2009 Pac-10 Women's Basketball Tournament with a final score of 89-64.
Stanford has now won five of the last eight Pac-10 Women's Basketball Tournaments and will receive the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced tomorrow.
Leading scorers for Stanford in this game were Pedersen with 25 points and Ogwumike with 14 points.
USC was led by LeNoir's 13 points and Kari LaPlante with 12 points
While Stanford's accomplishment this weekend is something to celebrate, there is also something to celebrate if you are a Trojan fan. The Women of Troy have made history as the lowest seed to ever play in a championship game and it is the first time that the USC program has made it to the championship game since the tournament started in 2002. In addition, with a few more heathy players and by building on this experience, USC could find themselves back in the championship game next season.
Final thoughts from the Galen Center to come.
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Rain hasn't been in the forecast here in Los Angeles since the beginning of last week, but Storm Stanford is continuing to produce rain inside the Galen Center.
After beating Arizona by 31 on Friday and UCLA by 26 points, Stanford is working on another lop-sided win tonight.
Stanford has a track record of one-sided wins during the Pac-10 Tournament as it was just last year when they beat California last year by 21 points in the final.
Stay tuned, there are just a few minutes left to play.
Stanford 81
USC 50
4:04 left in the game.
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The second half is underway and we are at our second time-out. Stanford is on a 16-9 run.
The Cardinal run is due to their continued control of the boards, but also because of the offensive production by Pedresen, Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Appel.
USC is struggling as Camille LeNoir has been taken out of this game. She is slowly crawling her way back in as she now has five points, but with about 13 mintues left Trojan fans are hoping that it is not too late.
Stay tuned
Stanford 50
USC 35
13:54 left to play.
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- USC's Jackie Gemelos is a redshshirt sophmore who has sat out the last two seasons due to ACL tears and has yet to see a minute of play at the college level. Yet tonight her number is seeing lots of playing time thanks to teammate Aarika Hughes.
Hughes -- who is wearing Gemelos' uniform -- is just one of three members of USC's team that has decided to wear a fallen teammates number instead of their own. The others are Kari LaPlante who is wearing Nadia Parker's No. 44 (Parker is out with a knee injury sustained on March 7) and Briana Gilbreath is wearing her sister's, Stephanie (ACL tear prior to the start of the season), No. 20.
Hughes has five points so far while LaPlante is USC's leading scorer in the first half with 10 points and Gilbreath has yet to score a basket.
It is halftime now and Stanford's numbers are not coming from their big woman in the middle Jayne Appel. Instead, Appel is 0-1 and it is Kayla Pedersen who has come up big so far with nine points.
Stay tuned, more after the half.
Stanford 33
USC 24
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- We are more than halfway through this first half and while USC is not giving up, the Women of Troy have an up-hill battle to fight.
Stanford has built a considerable lead and continues to control the boards in this game. Not helping USC's cause is that Stanford's defense is so tenacious that the Women of Troy are using just about every second of every posession with trying to find a shot to take.
Stay tuned, there's still lots of basketball to be played tonight.
Stanford 27
USC 14
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Stanford is having problems at the free-throw line (4-8) but seems to making up for it on the boards. Right now Stanford is controlling the boards by out-rebounding USC 11-8 in this first half.
In addition, Stanford is killing USC from three-point land as The Cardinal are not afraid to shoot the ball despite currently shooting 33%.
Stay tuned!
Stanford 14
USC 6
11:02 left in the half
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- After three days of play, it's showtime for the 2009 Pac-10 Women's Tournament as No. 1 Stanford plays No. 6 USC to determine this year's champion.
While Stanford has the advantage in this game with not only being the higher seed, but also with havng more experience in this type of game. However USC is on fire right now after beating two nationally ranked teams in the last two days and is playing on their own court. In addition, it was just last year when the bulk of this USC team experienced something that very few other teams in the country know -- beating Stanford (73-72 on January 6. 2008)
This game is underway and after USC scored first, Stanford seems to be finding a rythym and jumped out to a slight lead.
Stay tuned, as the best of the Pac-10 are on display and one team will take home the championship trophy.
Stanford 9
USC 6
14:00 left in the first half
###
LOS ANGELES, Calif -- They may not have gray hair or eligible for an AARP card, but it is the 2009 seniors of the Pac-10 that are looked upon for their experience and wisdom after having survived playing their collegiate career in the Pac-10.
As they came to play for one more Pac-10 Tournament this weekend at the Galen Center on USC's campus, this senior class is not only hungry to help their team win one more game and get one step closer to the big dance, but also reflective in remembering some of the most memorable moments of their collegiate playing careers.
"There have been so many fun things that have happened with our team," said Lauren Lacey of Arizona State. "The most memorable moment has to be when we were in the airport heading to LA and we see this guy being pushed in a wheelchair in front of us. We happened to look at the guy in the wheelchairs face and it was Muhammad Ali. He was going to be on our flight. It was cool because one of his daughters who was with him thought it was really cool that we were basketball players and of course we thought it was cool because of who he was. We got to go up to him, shake his hand and have our picture taken with him. It was really cool to meet one of the greatest athletes of all time on the way to LA."
Travelling for road games is just one place off the court that provided some memorable moments for these student-athletes. Other places where memories were made were right at home.
"Earlier this year we were getting ready to run the hurdles and since I am a senior, I figured that I should go first and show the freshman how you do it," said Sarah Hays of Arizona. "When I went to do it I ended up hitting the hurdle and not only did I fall, but I fell into the hurdles and knocked all of them over while I was trying to get up. It was really embarrassing as I was trying to be a senior and show them what to do. Instead, I showed them what not to do."
Within each of the seniors' tenure with their program, they not only got to experience fun times along the west coast, but also overseas.
"My most memorable moment would have to be the experience of going to play abroad in Italy going into my sophomore year," said Heidi McNeill of Washington. "We played against a bunch of teams and won all of our games, but it really wasn't even about basketball is was about the experience of being in a different country and seeing how other people live in a different culture. It was just a great trip overall."
While off the court there were many moments of light-hearted activity to help keep the players from burning out, there were also just as many moments on the court that kept this senior class inspired.
"A couple of games that come to mind are the Arizona game last year at home when we went into double overtime and Arizona ended the game with two players, said Britney Davis from Oregon State. "Another game was this year against the Ducks. We swept them this year and we haven't done that in school history since 1993, so that was a special moment, especially being from Oregon."
For some seniors, memorable moments were not made on the court, but during halftime.
"[Coach] Charli Turner Thorne doesn't eat meat at all, but there was one game where she wanted to emphasize the need for us to `step outside the box' and letting lose so at halftime she had a big piece of beef jerky and pulls it out in front of us," said Briann January from Arizona State. "We were all confused about what she was doing and then she took a bite of it and started chewing it. We were all silent because we were stunned as we have never seen her eat meat. She told us that if she could do this then we could step out of the box."
Yet at the end of the day, there was nothing like a player's home court to find a meaningful moment.
"Probably senior night was the most memorable for me," said Katie Appleton of Washington State. "Even though we lost, we played a good game and my parents were there. They hadn't seen a lot of home games, so it was neat to have them there."
###
|
