USC
14-4, 2-4
Washington
14-4, 5-2
No. 25 USC Falls Short to Washington, 69-60
January 17, 2016 | Women's Basketball
SEATTLE, WASH. -- The No. 25 USC women's basketball team was undone by a rough third quarter in an otherwise strong road showing at Washington today. The Huskies capitalized on Trojan misses in the third to turn a 10-point USC halftime lead into seven-point Washington advantage on the way into the final frame. USC's Temi Fagbenle shouldered the load for the Trojans today, turning in an 11-of-12 effort from the floor to finish with a career-high 25 points while notching her fourth straight double-double with 14 rebounds. USC goes to 14-4 overall and 2-4 in Pac-12 play with the road loss. Washington, meanwhile, improves to 14-4, 5-2.
The USC defense forced 13 turnovers out of the Huskies in the first half to help fuel a Trojan push to a 10-point lead by halftime. USC's Temi Fagbenle had over half her team's points by the break, pumping in 19 first-half points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor, to help USC lead Washington 34-24 at halftime. After shooting 43 percent in the first half, USC wound up off-kilter in the third quarter. The Trojans managed only seven points while Washington forged ahead and stayed there down the stretch. USC would get its feet back underneath it in the fourth, but Washington was well in control by then. USC finished out the game shooting 40 percent from the floor while the Huskies picked up the pace and finished at 49 percent after their 64-percent second-half effort. Washington also won out on the boards 34-26 and drained seven 3-pointers on 11 tries. USC, by comparison, hit five three but misfired on 23 attempts.
The Trojans lone solider in double figures today was Fagbenle, who shined through with her fourth consecutive double-double on 25 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Washington was led by Kelsey Plum's 32 points, with Chantel Osahor scoring 14 points with 11 rebounds on the day.
Both teams came up empty through the first 2:30 of action before Washington broke the silence with a three-point play. The Trojans responded with a 6-0 scoring rally, though, getting buckets from Temi Fagbenle and a fastbreak finish from Kristen Simon to sneak into a 6-3 lead four minutes into the game. The Huskies would cut it to a one-point game, only to see the Trojans stoke themselves to a 7-0 run on a 3-pointer from Edwards and back-to-back scores from Fagbenle for a 17-9 USC advantage entering the final minute. Washington would manage a bucket before the buzzer, making it 17-11 USC after 10 minutes of action. In the second half, USC stuck to its guns. The Trojans' biggest gun, of course, was Fagbenle, who kept firing off shots for the USC cause. She'd get big buckets from Khaedin Taito, too, particularly in a late-quarter 3-pointer that negated a Husky three that had threatened to give the hosts a spark. Instead, Taito buried her bomb to get USC a 32-22 lead. UW scored next, but Fagbenle had the last word of the half with a score that gave her 19 points and put the Trojans on top 34-24 at the break.
USC took aim at 10 shots from beyond the arc in the third quarter and hit just one, while UW was able to knock down three 3-pointers and capitalize on numerous Trojan misses to work into the lead. By the end of the third, USC was staring at a 48-41 deficit to its host as Washington scored the last 11 points of the frame to steal away the lead. In the fourth, USC got a spark from Alexis Lloyd, who scored USC's first seven points, but the Huskies had an answer for each Lloyd bucket. USC came up empty again for a full five minutes as Washington moved farther ahead, leaving USC out of time for a successful push. USC got a once-16-point hold down to 10 in the final minute, and Courtney Jaco nailed a three with seconds left but it was too late for the Trojans, who wound up with the 69-60 loss to the Huskies.
USC was on this road trip without two regular starters in redshirt junior Jordan Adams and senior Brianna Barrett, who have missed two Pac-12 games now.
The Women of Troy now return home for a pair of Pac-12 games at Galen Center. USC will first host Stanford at 8 p.m. on Friday (Jan. 22) and then take on California at 2 p.m. on Sunday (Jan. 24).
ASSOCIATED PRESS RECAP
SEATTLE (AP) Kelsey Plum scored 21 of her 32 points in the second half, Chantel Osahor had a double-double and Washington dominated the second half in a 67-57 win over No. 25 Southern California on Sunday.
Osahor had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies (14-4, 5-2 Pac-12), who were 7 of 11 behind the arc, and shot 64 percent (14 of 22) in the second half.
Before the Trojans (14-4, 2-4) scored 10 points in the last 75 seconds, capped by Courtney Jaco's 3-pointer in the closing seconds, her first in 12 attempts, Plum outscored the Trojans, who led 34-24 at the half, 21-16 in the second half.
Plum, who has 18 30-point games, had 11 points at the break, giving her 1,929 career points for third on the school list.
Temi Fagbenle had 19 points in the first half and finished with 25 and 14 rebounds for USC.
WASHINGTON 69, USC 60
01/17/16 2:00 p.m. at Seattle, Wash. - Alaska Airlines Arena
USC (14-4, 2-4)
Fagbenle, Temi 11-12 3-3 25; Edwards, Sadie 3-10 2-3 9; Lloyd, Alexis 3-7 0-1 7; Taito, Khaedin 3-4 0-0 7; Simon, Kristen 3-8 0-0 6; Mazyck, Aliyah 1-7 0-0 3; Jaco, Courtney 1-13 0-0 3; Effa, Marguerite 0-2 0-0 0.
Totals 25-63 5-7 60.
WASHINGTON (14-4, 5-2)
Plum, Kelsey 10-19 10-12 32; Osahor, Chantel 4-7 4-4 14; Walton, Talia 3-12 0-0 8; Atchley, Alexus 2-2 2-4 7; Collier, Katie 2-4 0-0 4; Gilling, Mathilde 2-2 0-0 4; Wieburg, Mackenzie 0-0 0-0 0; Strother, Deja 0-0 0-0 0; Kingma, Kelli 0-1 0-0 0; Johnson, Hannah 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 23-47 16-20 69.
USC........................... 17 17 7 19 - 60
Washington.................... 11 13 24 21 - 69
3-point goals--USC 5-28 (Edwards, Sadie 1-6; Taito, Khaedin 1-2; Lloyd, Alexis 1-3; Jaco, Courtney 1-12; Mazyck, Aliyah 1-5), Washington 7-11 (Osahor, Chantel 2-4; Walton, Talia 2-3; Plum, Kelsey 2-3; Atchley, Alexus 1-1). Fouled out--USC-None, Washington-None. Rebounds--USC 26 (Fagbenle, Temi 14), Washington 34 (Osahor, Chantel 11). Assists--USC 16 (Jaco, Courtney 5), Washington 13 (Plum, Kelsey 5). Total fouls--USC 19, Washington 10. Technical fouls--USC-None, Washington-None. Att-1790
