Feb. 19, 2008

Michelle Stein of the women's water polo team and Taj Gibson of the men's basketball team were named the USC Wells Fargo Student-Athletes of the week today (Feb. 19) for the week of Feb. 11-17.

The junior Stein earned her first career honor as an MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week after scoring seven goals in two games for the Trojans to help USC open MPSF play with two road wins. Against #10 UC Irvine on Saturday, Stein scored four of USC's final eight goals as the Trojans went from a 3-2 deficit to shut out the Anteaters the rest of the game, scoring eight straight goals on the way to a 10-3 win. The next day, Stein again led the Trojans with a hat trick as USC avenged an earlier loss to ASU with an 11-5 win over the #8 Sun Devils in Tempe. She is now tied as USC's top scorer with 15 goals so far this season, having gotten to the back of the net in seven of USC's eight games on the year.

Gibson, a sophomore, scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the 56-46 loss at home to No. 6 UCLA on Feb. 17. It was his fourth double-double of the season and 15th of his career. Gibson made 7 of 8 shots in the game and has made 69 of his last 95 shots (72.6 percent) in the last 14 games. Gibson also had five blocks in the game and has 127 in his Trojan career, just three away from moving into second place all-time on USC's shots blocked list (Sam Clancy is first with 195).