Los Angeles, CA- No. 16 USC gave an unpremeditated warm West coast welcome to the undefeated No.1 UConn with a sold out crowd of 9,000 that turned into a chilly blowout, 79-51 on Saturday at the Galen Center.
After eight minutes of back n forth action, the Women of Troy seem like they were on the verge of keeping up with the No. 1 Huskies before a Blanca Quinonez substitution led into a full court pressure onslaught to change the short-lived battle into a white flag retreat.
“I think we had two turnovers through the first half of the first quarter … and then we turned the ball over too much,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “It’s really hard to guard them in transition off of made or missed baskets, but I thought we could do that probably better than anyone that they’ve played. But it’s really hard off of live-ball turnovers.”
USC’s defense allowed UConn to score 15 straight points to close the first quarter initiated by Quinonez one woman defense show forcing turnovers with her length to steal the ball on inbound plays then converting them into six straight points before the Women of Troy figured out just how to advance the ball up the court.
Unfortunately for USC, UConn unleashed their best play of this season thus far finishing with 44 points in the paint and 26 points off turnovers.
Sophomore Guard Kennedy Smith fought to keep her team encouraged while their two top scorers Senior Guard Kara Dunn and Freshman Guard Jazzy Davidson were froze out most of the game by UConn’s physical, fast play.
“During the game I was telling them in the huddles just work on us at this point,”Smith said once the game seemed out of reach. “If we’re going to lose the game, we’re gonna lose the game, but work on what we need to be better.”
Smith finished with 16 points and had much needed assistance from Senior Guard Londynn Jones off the bench scoring 14 points in 25 minutes. Davidson eventually reached double digits with 10 points despite most of those points being “a day too late” buckets as the game was out of hand. Dunn had an upside with five assists and scoring the first basket for her team from deep to give them an early lead.
“Games like this are where you learn so much. I think staying present and just trying to do whatever it is in that moment, you have to take it play-by-play,” Jones said about co-leading this team with fellow teammates. “I think that was just kind of the mentality that I was just trying to get everybody on and you can’t do anything about the past. So, moving forward, we’re just trying to get better.”
USC continues struggling on offense with their inconsistent scoring and inability to finish nifty drives inside the paint, especially contested shots. However, the Women of Troy on the defensive end, were able to make the Huskies less efficient from deep range, hitting only 7 out of 19 as well as kept UConn’s dominant forward Sarah Strong under her usual outstanding performance as she struggled quietly in the first half.
USC was denied double digits both quarters in the first half culminating with a big block on Davidson entering into halftime, 39-17. The Women of Troy briefly held early leads but were unable to sustain an offensive rhythm, despite limiting the Huskies to their fewest points in a half this season.
By the third quarter, Women of Troy came out to a different tune, scoring 22 points but unable to stop the flow of UConn or the bleeding from Huskies’ hoedown on their home court.
“I never allow myself to go into a game thinking it’s going to be a 30-point game,” Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma said. “I knew it would be a good game. I thought it would be physical, I thought it would be fast-paced, and we wanted to make it fast-paced. When we could speed the game up and play really quickly, it was to our benefit. Defensively, our guys were able to do that today.”
UConn star guard Azzi Fudd not only clamped up Davidson for most of the game, she led her team with a game high 17 points including 3 out of 6 from behind the arc. Freshmen Quinonez poured in 12 points, four rebounds, four steals and a couple of assists that overall shifted UConn’s play into a different gear as they never looked back after she checked in the game.
“When you have someone like her coming off the bench and can just bring that spark, it’s like the first group is playing well, and then she comes in, and it’s like a whole other level,” Fudd said about Quinonez.
The Women of Troy finished the game shooting 30 percent, hitting only 16 field goals for a season-low, 51 points. USC did show progress from the charity stripe, making 15 from 20.
USC (7-3) has one more home game to host Cal-Poly at the Galen Center on Thursday, December 18 completing their six game homestead and hopefully rebounding from such a downcast defeat.
UConn (10-0) remains undefeated and will return to Northeast to face Marquette on Wednesday.