Payne’s clutch shots send UW women to overtime win

By John Sleeper

Herald Writer

SEATTLE – By her own admission, Loree Payne was brutal most of the night.

She made up for it. Twice.

Payne, who became the 17th University of Washington women’s basketball player to pass 1,000 career points two nights before, couldn’t hit the broad side of Hec Edmundson Pavilion Sunday night …

… until she nailed an 18-foot jumper with 1.1 seconds left in regulation time to send the Huskies’ game against USC into overtime. Then she hit a game-winning driving layup with 4.8 seconds left in overtime to give Washington an 80-79 Pacific-10 Conference victory.

Payne, the Huskies’ leading scorer at 14.9 points a game, clanked her first nine shots and only heated up when the Huskies desperately needed her.

“(Coach June Daugherty) was really positive, encouraging me the whole time,” said Payne, who began her third straight game on the bench because of a recent team emphasis on rebounding. “She pretty much said that they had to fall sometime. That helps you as a shooter that your coach and your teammates have confidence in you and want you to keep shooting. Fortunately, it fell at the end.”

In a corker of game that had 26 lead changes, Payne sent the contest into the extra session with a jumper that tied the game at 71, one that the vast majority of the 3,104 at Hec Ed lobbied to be a game-winning 3-pointer. But referee Melissa Barlow had a good angle on the shot and was emphatic that Payne’s foot was on the 3-point line.

“To me, there wasn’t even a question,” said USC coach Chris Gobrecht, a UW head coach for 11 seasons.

In the overtime, Rachel Woodward hit a layup with 19.9 seconds remaining to put the Women of Troy ahead, 79-78. The Huskies elected to forgo their last timeout and set up a play.

Only it was hardly one that was straight off the chalkboard.

USC’s defense, a suffocating, in-your-face man, harassed the ballhandler. The ball came to Payne, who used Kristen O’Neill’s sort-of pick to drive the lane. She elevated and scooped a one-hander over USC forward Ebony Hoffman, who fouled her on the play with 4.8 seconds remaining.

“It was pretty much broken down,” Payne said. “They were pressuring us all game. I think it kind of threw us out of our offense a little bit. They pressure you so much that we were able to penetrate. I saw the lane and just went for it.”

Payne missed the free throw. A desperation shot by Woodward hit the backboard as time ran out.

The win boosted the Huskies’ record to 4-1 in Pac-10 play, 9-5 overall. USC, which had won five of its last six games, fell to 4-2 and 8-7.

Guard Guiliana Mendiola led the Huskies with 20 points. Center Andrea Lalum added 12 points and Kayla Burt 10. Payne added nine points, on 4-for-13 shooting from the field. She converted her last four shots.

The Women of Troy can blame sloppy ballhandling, injury and foul problems for the downfall. They outrebounded Washington by 11, but suffered 26 turnovers (including 18 UW steals) and appeared lost when senior guard Tiffany Elmore went down with a possible fractured left ankle with 11 minutes remaining in regulation. USC also lost leading scorer Aisha Hollans and point guard Jessica Cheeks to fouls.

“We’ll kick ourselves about it, but we need to move on,” said Gobrecht after a lengthy postgame meeting with her players.

Hollans scored 14 of her game-high 26 points in a see-saw first half in which USC held a 34-29 lead at intermission.

Although Washington did a creditable job of shutting off USC’s rugged inside players and keeping them from doing damage on the boards, they had little success with Hollans, a 5-foot-9 sophomore with a sweet jumper.

The UW zone doubled Hoffman, which limited the star forward’s effectiveness. She finished with 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting and seven rebounds.

“I’m just really proud of the way we played, because we’ve been working up to play at this level all year,” Daugherty said. “To see us blossom against a very talented and well-coached team like USC is exciting.”