Women of Troy’s Hot Win Streak Continues Versus Penn St Uplifting USC’s Community

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Los Angeles, CA – 12 days into this new year, another week of wildfires in Southern California, and USC ignites crowd of local communities at Galen Center including Women of Troy alumni, en route a 12-game winning streak led by #12 JuJu Watkins’ blazing 35 points to beat Penn State, 95-73. 

“So many people have lost so much and we 100 percent recognize sports and Athletics are not bigger than those real-world things,“ Coach Gottlieb acknowledged her and her team’s appreciation plus approach during wildfires. “At the same what is important at this time is community and the feeling of it. “

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Going by numbers, it appeared to be JuJu’s community day as she finished the first half of the game with 22 points. Watkins, one of the few local products on the team’s roster shared her personal impact from LA County’s current crisis.

“This week has been hard for LA and for me too,” JuJu explained. “We’ve been doing the best we can to stay locked in and have as much as positivity as possible because this [too] shall pass.”

Watkins encouraged by her faith, ended on an efficient shooting night, 13-15 from the field, 7-9 for free throws, and 2-3 for triples. Filling up the stat sheet, she added a double digit rebounding effort, along with five steals, and 3 apiece in assists as well as blocks. Showcasing an all-around effort for her fans fighting on in midst of local climate chaos. 

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Though it was announced this past weekend of another Big 10 Conference opponent, Northwestern, forgoing their west coast travels scheduled this upcoming week for both matches against USC and UCLA, Penn State opted to play this week in both schools, respectively. Penn State remaining winless in conference play after succumbing to USC, competed much of the first half while overcoming early fouls. Watkins nor her teammates offered any sympathy for Penn St. resuming the second half where they left off, on an 18-0 run, with a layup by JuJu after a steal mid-court to continue piling up points.

“I’m very prayerful and JuJu along with Coach G kind of touched on it, but if we can give people some way of escape and put smiles on their faces by playing for two hours, then I’m super grateful to do that,” Senior Graduate transfer, KiKi Iriafen, said.

Iriafen scored 28 points, shooting efficiently as JuJu, though mostly midrange shots and 4-6 from the charity stripe. The Lady Lions desperately had no answer for Women of Troy’s Batman and Robin combination despite the remaining team’s shooting woes, hitting only 12 field goals off 31 percent.  Despite USC as a team misfiring offensively, their team’s defense and transition game kept them in comfortable distance as they forced 21 turnovers by the Lady Lions while holding them under 40 percent shooting.

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Lady Lions were led by Freshman guard Talayah Walker’s impressive 18-point outing, her second consecutive double-digit scoring performance along with five rebounds and four assists.  However, USC crushed any dreams of a final quarter run or comeback when freshman guard Kennedy Smith opened the fourth quarter with a scoring dagger for her fifth point of the game.

Nine Women of Troy scored to sum up the team’s 95 points while only JuJu and KiKi reached double digits to continue their 17-game streak of both scoring double figures. Kayleigh Heckel came off the bench and scored 9 points. In addition, Talia Von Oelhoffen contributed 6 points in 22 minutes.

USC returns to action back on the road next week, headed to Bloomington to resume Big 10 conference play versus Indiana on Jan. 19, following, Purdue on Jan. 22. This will mark USC’s first-ever visits to the Lady Hoosiers and Boilermakers.

Photo by DeAngelo Scruggs / fi360 News