What a game!

[XU-PA]

69-66 win over a scrappy USC team. Trojans bigs in foul trouble all night long, and hot from 3. XU usual double doubles from Amber and T,,, but no one could hit a three.
Toughness got it done in the very end.

Schmaltzy and his new radio partner talked alot about how tired our starters appeared at the end of the first half and late in the 2nd. I'm guessing that's the result of a pretty easy run over the past few weeks, K-Mac was very liberal in use of the subs in those last 3 games, with the starters running around 20 minutes. That's the drawback of playing patsies, BUT, I'll guess it will pay off in the long run with this team being a little deeper than last years group.

Love what Megan askew has brought to the 3 position, her toughness driving to the hoop made a big difference in the second half. Hope Rutan gets back on the court soon, her shooting is sorely missed from the arc.

[X-band '01]

Still no Katie Rutan in the lineup - her injury must be a little more serious if she couldn't play against Southern Cal. It does make Askew's contributions look even bigger now.

[rhyno2110]

Damn it. Somehow I got completely side tracked tonight and forgot about the game. I missed a great one by the looks of it. Nobody is going to stop our 2 All-Americans!

Thanks for the little recap.

[Masterofreality]

1 for 17 from 3 land. Yikes!!

Get back in there soon Katie!!!

[cinskyline]

Very entertaining game last night. I give USC credit-- after X took a 9 point lead in the 1st half, I thought they were done as they seemed to be fading away. I should have known better. After all, they took us to OT last year in L.A.

The 3 point shooting was brutal, and that's really what kept USC in the game and gave them a chance to win at the end. Most of our shots were open and we simply missed them. It happens. On the other hand, it seemed like the Trojans couldn't miss from long range in the 2nd half. Especially #15 Briana Gilbreath.

Our defense was a bit shaky at times, and Coach McGuff sort of hinted at this in the post game press conference. Really, outside of the poor shooting from 3, the stat sheet really doesn't look bad. 44% is pretty good considering we shot 5% from 3. Once USC's Kari LaPlante and Cassie Harberts got into foul trouble, they had no answer for Amber and Ta'Shia.

Lynette only played about 5 minutes, but had 2 HUGE baskets in the 2nd half to keep the score within 1 basket.

What's up with the poor FT shooting? I thought this was going to be a point of emphasis this year, but it's still really bad.

[GoMuskies]

Being undefeated is very nice. The ladies obviously need to take their game up a couple of notches before those trips to Durham and Palo Alto, though!

[xuwin]

Xavier needs Rutan back badly to give them the 3 point shooting threat. I do think freshman Ashley Wanninger did a good job for them though particularly on defense.

[blobfan]

I'd been looking forward to this one and am bummed to have missed it but ai was feeling buggy and didn't want to risk infecting others. Tis the season, right?

I'm glad they were able to come up with a win.