Los Angeles, CA- After suffering two back-to-back losses on the road, the No.11 USC Trojans (14-3) bounced back as they returned to Galen Center and defeated the Washington State Cougars (14-6) 70-62.
USC received stellar performances from their freshman Juju Watkins, and graduate transfer, Mckenzie Forbes, who combined for 51 in their victory against last year’s Pac-12 tournament champions. Watkins scored 29 points with seven rebounds, three blocks, and three steals. Forbes contributed 22 points, four rebounds, and three assists.
The Trojans held off the Cougars as they rallied late cut into the 21-point deficit, and closed to within 10 points with about 2 minutes remaining.
“So much respect for this league,” Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “This league is so darn good; everyone is good”.
The Pac-12 has six teams in the AP top 25 rankings and it’s just a testament to the praise Coach Gottlieb has been preaching about the toughness of the conference all season. USC previously suffered losses at the hands of No. 16 Utah and No. 3 Colorado.
Gottlieb spoke about the lessons she and the team learned over the course of those losses. “The lesson is Colorado, who is a projected No. 1 seed and really, really good, and we’re right there.” So decide, decide if we want to be normal, decide if we want to be ordinary and be ‘almost there’ or decide if we want to take another step. But in this league, you can’t take any steps unless you take care of the next game in front of you, especially when you’re at home.”
The Trojans jumped out to an early 10-0 lead to begin the game. In the first half, Watkins scored 21 of her 29 points and Forbes added 13 of her 22 points as USC took a 43-25 lead into halftime.
The Women of Troy shot 45% from the field on 15-33 attempts and made 5-10 threes for 50% in the first half.
The Cougars struggled from the floor in the first half shooting 33% on 9-27 attempts and shot 28% from deep making 4-14.
In the second half, the crowd soared after Juju sent her defender to the floor with a killer crossover and made the three-pointer late in the fourth quarter. That was one of the lone bright spots for the Trojans who were outscored 37-27 in the half.
Tara Wallack led the Cougars in scoring with 21 points and Eleonora Villa added 12 points.
The Cougars shot 57% in the second half making 16-28 field goal attempts.
The Trojans struggled to make baskets in the second half as they went 10-36 on 27% shooting in the second half. USC now improves to 10-0 at home, as they prepare to play the Washington Huskies(12-5) Sunday, who are coming off of a loss to the UCLA Bruins last night.
