Strong showing by USC women at Paradise Jam tournament

The Women of Troy headed to the U.S. Virgin Islands over Thanksgiving to take part in the Paradise Jam tournament.

Not a bad place to spend the holiday weekend, or any weekend for that matter.

While they fell to Rutgers in the first game, USC had a lot to be thankful for in its next two, besting 13^th ranked Texas and 19^th ranked Mississippi State.

In the first round game against Rutgers, the Trojans fell behind early and were never able to get back into the game, losing 66-51.

Rutgers forward Chelsey Lee paced the Scarlet Knights in the first half with 8 points and 5 rebounds and finished the game with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

USC guard, Ashley Corral, continued scoring at a high click as she has in previous games, leading all scorers with 24 points, including 6-of-13 from three-point range.

While Corral had the hot hand against Rutgers, the same could not be said of her fellow players as the team combined to shoot a dreadful 25.4 percent for the game.

In the second game of the tournament, the Women of Troy turned things around against a 13^th-ranked Texas team, upsetting the Longhorns, 61-54.

After the poor shooting performance against Rutgers, the Trojans found their stroke, shooting 46.2 percent from the field.

Briana Gilbreath, Aarika Hughes, Kari LaPlante and Heather Oliver all scored in double figures for USC, with Gilbreath scoring a team high, 13 points.

Ashley Corral, who leads the Trojans in scoring, had only 5 points on the night, but found other ways to contribute on the court, dishing out 8 assists and collecting 9 rebounds.

For the Longhorns, guard Kathleen Nash led the way with 17 points and 7 rebounds, while her teammate, Brittany Raven, scored 15 points off the bench.

Coming off of the win over the Longhorns, the Trojans pulled out another upset, this time over a 19^th-ranked Mississippi State team.

The Women of Troy would need scoring contributions from nine different players to knock off a tough Lady Bulldogs team, 64-60.

Aarika Hughes scored a team high 14 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals on the day to help USC get the win.

The Lady Bulldogs, who staged a second half rally to take the lead momentarily, ultimately fell victim to an 11-2 run by the Trojans late in the half and could not recover the rest of the game.

Mississippi State's Armelie Lumanu scored a game high 19 points while her teammate, Tysheka Grimes, added a double-double in the losing effort, scoring 18 points and corralling 11 rebounds.

After winning its last two games against ranked opponents, USC hopes to continue its success on the road December 3^rd against Long Beach State followed by a December 6^th match up against 10^th ranked Duke.

The Trojans do not return home until December 19^th, when they will host Dartmouth at the Galen Center. Get your tickets now.