Cool freshman provides spark for Southern Cal

ORONO – Cool as the weather outside, freshman Erica Mashia went to the free throw line 12 times in the second half Monday night.

The sole freshman starting for the University of Southern California, which only dropped out of the top 25 earlier Monday, sank her first two with 13:41 remaining to close the Women of Troy’s deficit against the Black Bears to seven points.

The Portland, Ore., native sank her 11th and 12th shot with 3.4 seconds remaining to seal USC’s 66-60 comeback victory.

“Our team really stepped up in the second half,” first-year USC coach Fred Williams. “We felt we needed to bear down, and Tina stepped it up, and Erica Mashia stepping up at the free throw line as a freshman and showed a lot of character and a lot of poise.”

But the picture for USC got pretty bad before it improved.

Down 35-24 at the half, the Women of Troy held Maine to two field goals in the first 17:18 of the second half.

“The main thing we talked about, just the players before our coaches stepped into the locker room, was we had to pick up our intensity and play defense,” USC forward Tina Thompson said. “Cindy [Blodgett], I mean, God … I think Erica and Shannon [Kartz] played great defense on her, but she’s just one of those kind of players where no matter what you do, she’s going to make it anyway.”

Blodgett finished with 27 points in 39 minutes, but it was USC’s 5-foot-7 guard who stole the thunder, finishing with 16 points and six rebounds while scoring 14 of USC’s 42 second-half points.

“That was big,” Williams said, “for her to be a freshman and get fouled, and shoot that ball so many times. I’ve seen her play many times when she was in high school in Oregon and sink a lot of free throws, so I had a lot of confidence in her.”

Williams’ confidence was well placed as Mashia’s performance in USC’s third game of the season brought her free throw stats to 17 for 17 despite a noisy crowd.

But even the noise didn’t startle the smooth-shooting freshman.

“I just blocked all the fans, they were booing and whatever, I shot it like it was practice,” Mashia said.