Westwood, CA – No. 4 USC jumped out to a 9-0 run at the sold out Pauley Pavilion arena, finishing how they started the game to defeat this time a No. 2 UCLA on their home court, 80-67, for a regular season sweep to become Big 10 regular season champs. JuJu Watkins came with a national player type performance according to her coach, scoring 23 points in the first half at ease against multiple Bruins, motivating her teammates to keep fighting to get their 16th conference win with only one loss to Iowa, making them overall 27-2, an almost identical record to UCLA (28-2, 15-2), whom only two losses of the season came from Women of Troy.
“Credit to USC they were tougher,” UCLA Coach Cori Close lamented. “They were more disciplined and did their jobs.”
Watkins did her job plus put in some “OT” with a 30 points finish while she found extra motivation for the local crosstown rivalry and from her teammates especially when three of the five starters got into early foul trouble.
“We’re really proud to be the Big 10 regular season champs,” Coach Lindsay Gottleib said. “But I think mostly the way we won shows the growth of our team as it literally took everyone, a team effort for UCLA is as good as advertised.”
Women of Troy went up by 11, leading 15-4, midway through first quarter, one of their big scoring runs throughout the game as they led the entire game. Coach Close illustrated during the postgame press conference while overwhelmed with emotions what she saw her team play like paper that she waddled up into a ball without saying they played like garbage or trashing them as she summed up the dichotomy of their season with team accomplishments.
“We had to be better to beat them twice and to be the champs,” Coach Gottleib said. “I am very lucky to have these two [Watkins and KiKi Iriafen] and I think their mentality was the differentiator.”
Watkins and Iriafen continued their dynamic duo play, both splitting halves for their best outing, yet shining the spotlight on their other teammates’ efforts like shooting as a team close to 50% for the game.
“I’m confident the work will speak for itself, “ Watkins said. “Long as we stick to the process, we’ll see success.”
As Watkins and Iriafen lifted up their teammates, Hall of Famer and former Women of Troy, avid game supporter, Cheryl Miller took moments during the game to directly cheer on Watkins or Iriafen while accompanied by her little brother and UCLA legend, NBA hall of famer, Reggie Miller.
“It means so much just knowing the history of it all,” Watkins said. “When we come here, we make sure we seize the opportunity.”
Women of Troy found themselves up at halftime, 46-32, while UCLA assisted 17 of those points with 11 turnovers. Watkins also had two big steals in the first half to go along with efficient shooting, 8-13, including four triples, after opening the game with a top of the key three-pointer to set the tone.
“It [crowd chants] definitely fired me up,” Watkins said. “I knew when I air-balled, I couldn’t help but smile because I knew everybody would go crazy.”
Watkins not new to crowds opposing her like this, did not seem to let the noise stop her from shooting and smiling or driving thru Bruin defenders as she nearly repeated her previous performance, adding to her 30 points and two steals with five assists, three blocks, two of those blocks on back to back defensive stops, then afterwards staring down in the baseline camera to silence a rowdy Bruin home crowd.
“It feels great for my seniors, Rayah and Clarice, “ Iriafen said. “Winning in Pauley since they hadn’t won here before, made it extra special and we wanted to win the Big 10 Championship.”
Iriafen didn’t go away quietly after playing less than ten minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. She came out in the second half off with that pinup energy, dominating UCLA’s front court with a near double-double at the end of the game, scoring 17 points and nine boards.
“To be a star player and sit for along time with three fouls then respond with a big second half” Coach Gottlieb said is an example of Iriafen’s mental toughness.
Bruins’ Coach Close felt Women of Troy played tougher despite doubling the number of fouls committed by Bruins, but UCLA did not capitalize, missing half of their free throw attempts while shooting 36 percent from the field.
UCLA’s KiKi Rice led her team with 16 points, making 10-11 from the charity stripe. Junior Lauren Betts racked up a washed out double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Junior Londynn Jones contributed late in the game getting a few breakaways to finish with 12 points.
“I think we are a really good defensive team,” Coach Gottlieb said. “I think everyone compliments each other on the defensive end and buys into it.”
USC played championship defense similar to their first matchup, holding UCLA in second quarter to 12 points and never trailing or letting them score over 20 points in second half.
UCLA came close within four points to open the third quarter on a massive run, outscoring USC 18-19, but USC countered their run to close the quarter and be up, 64-51.
“We weren’t disciplined or tough and we didn’t do our jobs, Coach Close said. “We’re going to have to take some real hard looks in the mirror.”
Both teams will likely remain in top five and take the next couple of days off as they received a double bye for upcoming Big 10 conference tournament in Indiana.
