Top Recruits Give Trojans Fresh Start

Almost one year after speaking publicly of her hopes of a promising season and then watching it crumble and turn into her worst nightmare, USC women’s basketball Coach Chris Gobrecht kiddingly tried a different approach at her recent preseason media meeting.

“Last year, every player I talked about at this meeting wound up getting hurt and was out for the year,” she said.

“This time, no names. You might coax initials out of me, though.”

The Trojans endured a 7-20 (3-15 in the Pacific 10) season a year ago, after injuries, as Gobrecht put it, “wiped out an entire recruiting class.”

Down went point guard Kristin Clark (knee), guard Kyoko Miller (shoulder), center Adrain Williams and guard Erica Mashia, who missed her third season because of a knee injury after being on crutches two years after a major hip injury.

Of course, Gobrecht did mention names, including all in her recruiting class, ranked eighth best in America by one preseason magazine. Gobrecht calls it a “top five” class.

She said of them: “They’re all my kind of players too--tough, no-nonsense, hard-nosed.”

She named three incoming freshmen, a junior college transfer and two transfers, 6-foot-2 senior Danielle Golay from Seton Hall and 6-2 Denise Woods from San Francisco.

The freshmen are 6-4 Portia Mitchell, 5-7 Lauren Smith-Hams and 5-10 Tennille Grant. The junior college transfer is 5-5 Ayeshia Smith.

From last season, returning starters are 5-10 sophomore Tiffany Elmore, 6-0 junior Tashara Carter and 6-2 senior Tiffany Washington.

Letter winners back are Mashia, 6-1 sophomore Carmen Krause and 5-8 sophomore Camille Norwood.

In the 20-loss season, Gobrecht’s team showed surprising front-line talent but little depth.

“The injuries killed us,” she said, “our depth was on the floor, playing.”

Typical was the Trojans’ 73-61 loss at Oregon before a noisy crowd of 5,672.

USC took the eventual Pac-10 co-champion into the final two minutes before wilting.

There was a one-point loss to Stanford and a six-point loss to Arizona, both NCAA tournament teams.

Prediction?

Gobrecht’s grin indicated she might be sandbagging it a bit when she said: “We’ll be a middle-of-the pack team, we’ll make some noise.”

On the recruiting trail, she said, the new byword is “tradition.”

“I’m talking to young players about the great names from our program--Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson, Cynthia Cooper, and what they mean to this sport today,” she said. “SC put women’s basketball on the map, it jump-started the sport.”

USC is playing nine Sports Arena games this season, six at its pint-sized campus facility, Lyon Center. Soon the announcement of a groundbreaking date for a 12,000-seat USC arena is expected.

“When that facility opens, it will be huge for our program,” she said.

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USC WOMEN AT A GLANCE

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Date Opponent, Time Nov. 26 Creighton, 12:30 Nov. 29 Texas Tech, 7 Dec. 4 at San Diego State, 7 Dec. 8 at Long Beach St., 7:30 Dec. 11 # Sacramento State, 2 Dec. 19 Baylor, 2 Dec. 21 at UC Santa Barbara, 7 Dec. 27 at Notre Dame, 7 Dec. 30 at Rutgers, 2 Jan. 7 *# Washington State, 7 Jan. 9 *# Washington, 2 Jan. 16 * at UCLA, 1 Jan. 20 * at Arizona State, 7 Jan. 22 * at Arizona, 1 Jan. 27 * Oregon, 7 Jan. 29 * Oregon State, 2 Feb. 3 * at California, 7:30 Feb. 5 * at Stanford, 2 Feb. 12 * UCLA, 2 Feb. 17 * Arizona, 7 Feb. 19 *# Arizona State, 2 Feb. 24 * at Oregon State, 7 Feb. 26 * at Oregon, 7 Mar. 3 * California, 7 Mar. 5 * Stanford, 2 Mar. 9 * at Washington, 7 Mar. 11 * at Washington State, 3

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USC ROSTER

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Name Pos. Ht. Yr. Tiffany Elmore G 5-10 So. Camille Norwood G 5-8 So. Erica Mashia G 5-7 Sr. Ayeshia Smith G 5-5 Jr. Denise Woods C 6-2 Jr. Carmen Krause F 6-1 So. Lauren Smith-Hams G 5-7 Fr. Erin Young G 5-11 Fr. Tashara Carter F 6-0 Sr. Tennille Grant G/F 5-10 Fr. Portia Mitchell C 6-4 Fr. Tiffany Washington F 6-2 Sr. Danielle Golay F 6-2 Sr.

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