Next: Cardinal hosts Bruins & Trojans

After two weeks on the road, the Cardinal is back in Maples this week for its first games of the season against:

• UCLA on Friday evening at 8:00.
• USC on Monday evening at 6:00.

The UCLA game will be televised by Pac-12 Networks and streamed online by Pac-12 Networks. The USC game will be televised by ESPN2. Both will be broadcast by KZSU. Click here for live stats.

Chiney scores over Alexyz Vaioletama last season

  UCLA Bruins

The Bruins have been ravaged by injuries this season. They lost sophomore guard Kori Karver (their best 3-point shooter last season), junior forward Kacy Swain and freshman forward Paulina Hersler to knee injuries before the season started. Freshman center Savanna Trapp (the tallest WBB Bruin ever at 6'9") is red-shirting this season.

The remaining nine players fought through one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. Their schedule strength was ranked #3 at the end of non-conference play. Their opponents included four ranked teams — at #12/17 Nebraska, vs. #12/14 North Carolina, vs. #10/13 Oklahoma and at #4/5 Notre Dame. They see-sawed through the non-conference season: lose, win, lose, win, lose, ...

And now they're down to just eight players. In their first conference game, redshirt freshman guard Lauren Holiday sustained a concussion and is out for the season. (She also sustained a concussion in the third game last season and sat out the remainder.)

The Bruins have continued to see-saw in conference play, with losses to USC, Colorado and Arizona State (by just two points in each of those games) and wins over Utah, Arizona, Oregon and Oregon State.

The Bruins are no longer a defensive powerhouse — Markel Walker, Jasmine Dixon and Alyssia Brewer have all graduated. Nor ae they an offensive powerhouse — those three and graduated point guard Mariah Williams and injured Kori Karver accounted for 55% of the Bruin scoring last season. That hasn't been replaced — the Bruins are the third-lowest scoring team in the Pac-12, with the poorest field goal percentage.

This is a rebuilding year for the Bruins, but that doesn't make third-year coach Cori Close or her players any less competitive.

The Bruin starters are:

• #11, 5'11" 6th year senior forward Atonye Nyingfa, in her sixth season with the Bruins (she sat out 09-10 and 11-12 with knee injuries), leads the team in scoring (18.0 points per game) and rebounding (9.1 per game). She tallied her fifth straight double-double and eighth of the season last weekend against Oregon State.


• #21, 5'0" sophomore guard Nirra Fields is the Bruin sharp-shooter. She takes the most shots (about 18 per game, 25% of them from beyond the arc) and makes 40% of them for an average of 17.6 points per game. She also gets 5.9 rebounds per game.


• #1, 5'7" senior guard Thea Lemberger runs the point and is the Bruins' third-best scorer. She dishes out 3.6 assists per game, and her assist/turnover ratio is a fairly good 1.5. She doesn't take as many shots as Nirra Fields, but 40% of hers come from beyond the arc for an average of 1.7 3-pointers and 15.8 points per game.


• #13, 6'3" junior center Luiana Livolo is a junior college transfer, in her first season with the Bruins. She averages 4.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game.


• #14, 5'8" freshman guard Dominique Williams helps out at the point and takes good care of the ball. She averages 1.3 assists, 0.6 turnovers, 0.4 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.

The Bruin reserves are:

• #34, 6'4" redshirt junior forward/center Corinne Costa, who sat out last season after a concussion in December and missed the first nine games of this season. She averages 4.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game.


• #20, 6'1" redshirt junior forward/guard Rhema Gardner, who sat out last season after knee surgery. She averages 2.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.


• #22, 5.8"junior guard Madeline Brooks, who saw limited action last season as walk-on. She averages 1.8 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.

The Bruins' win-loss record (10-9 overall, 4-3 conference) places them sixth in the Pac-12, their RPI (74) places them eighth, and their strength of schedule rank (9) places them second.

Here are their statistics and roster.

  USC Trojans

The Trojans have been in the doldrums for a long time. They hadn't been to the NCAAs since 2006. They finished last season with their worst record since 1999 — 11-20, 7th in the Pac-12.

The poor performance wasn't due to lack of talent — they had plenty of good players. True, they were hit hard by injuries, but they suffered as much from lack of focus and lack of confidence.

This season started out much the same as the Trojans went 7-5 in non-conference play. Two of the losses were to ranked teams (#17/13 South Carolina and #20/23 Oklahoma State), but another was to Cal State Northridge.

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, who took over as head coach this season, is quoted in the Trojans' preseason prospectus, "We need to value assists as much as we do baskets. We succeed in sports and life when we help others do great things."

That philosophy is beginning to pay off for the Trojans, and they're playing with more confidence under her direction. They've won nine of their last ten games, losing only to Arizona State in a hard-fought game that went into overtime.

The starters for the Trojans are:

• #11, 6'2" senior forward Cassie Harberts is breaking records at USC this season. With her 30-point game against Oregon last weekend, she knocked Coach Cooper out of the all-time top-10 in career scoring. She is the leading scorer with 15.7 points per game and the second-best rebounder (7.3) per game.


• #14, 5'7" junior guard Ariya Crook is the second best scorer with 14.9 points per game. She takes more than half her shots from beyond the arc and makes 39% of them for an average of 2.1 per game. She averages 1.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.


• #21, 6'1" junior forward Alexyz Vaioletama is the best rebounder with 7.6 per game and the third-best scorer with 9.5 per game.


• #32, 6'1" junior guard Kiki Alofaituli averages 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.


• #1, 6'1" sophomore guard Jordan Adams averages 3.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

The Trojans have a full roster with 15 active players. The bench accounts for 42% of the playing time, 36% of the scoring and 42% of the rebounds. Only four of the reserves come off the bench for more than ten minutes per game: sophomore guard Brianna Barrett, senior forward Desiree Bradley, freshman guard Courtney Jaco and junior forward Kaneisha Horn.

The Trojans' win-loss record (13-6 overall, 6-1 conference) places them second in the Pac-12, their RPI (41) places them fourth, and their strength of schedule rank (50) places them eighth.

Here are their statistics and roster.