Trojans’ Clark Pulls a Fast One on Bruins

After she had scored 23 points and led USC to a 60-56 victory over UCLA on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion, someone asked 5-foot-7, 120-pound Kristin Clark if she would be interested in playing linebacker for the Trojan football team.

“Sure, that’s fine!” she said, laughing.

No one was laughing on the UCLA side of the court, not after 3,928 watched Clark almost single-handedly defeat the Bruins.

UCLA (8-8 overall, 2-5 in the Pacific 10 Conference) led, 34-30, at halftime, but never recovered from a 90-second Trojan spurt that began with 15:20 to play and UCLA ahead, 39-36.

Clark, stationed at the top of USC’s zone, slipped into UCLA’s passing lanes, had three steals and scored on three consecutive layups. That put USC (12-4, 6-1) ahead, 42-40, and the Bruins never led again.

Thirty seconds after her third layup, Clark made a three-point basket. She followed that by driving down the lane for a layup and added another steal and layup for a 49-42 Trojan lead with 13 minutes left.

UCLA closed to within three points twice in the last six minutes, but was seeing double trouble down the stretch as Kristin’s twin sister, Kim, was in the Trojan backcourt.

USC Coach Fred Williams said the football analogy makes sense with Kristin.

“We call her our middle linebacker,” he said.

“She gives us the big hit. She’s been doing that all year, making big plays down the stretch. We told our guards at halftime to start putting more pressure on the ball out front and she sure did that.”

Clark, a sophomore, said: “I was getting into their passing lanes, and I don’t think they saw me.

“I love defense. My goal is to get into the top five in Pac-10 steals. If I get the ball and get going, no one can catch me.”

Notes

The college career of Rashida Jeffrey, a 6-foot-2 USC senior with arthritis in both knees, has ended. She reinjured a knee in the season’s first week and didn’t recover. “It got to the point with her knees that I was more concerned about her walking at 40 than I was with her basketball,” Williams said.