OK, let’s get to the NCAAW action. No. 15 USC wins over No. 4 Stanford 67-58. JuJu Watkins scored 51 points, a USC record, seven less than all of Stanford. Of course, Watkins deserves all the accolades for this feat. 14/26 field goals including six 3s and 17/19 at the line. Pretty impressive. Even though each team had their scoring droughts, it was still a close game and was tied at the half. USC’s third quarter saw them pull away some, leading by ten.
The fourth quarter had Stanford getting close, but once again, Watkins stepped up again to pull out the win. Cameron Brink finished with 19 points, 15 boards, and 8 blocked shots, a more than respectable showing. Kiki Iriafen added 16 points and 9 rebounds for the Cardinal, while Hannah Jump, who played all 40 minutes, scored 10. McKenzie Forbes scored 12 for the Trojans. Essentially, that was it for the scoring, and therein lies the problem. Where is USC without JuJu Watkins?
Of the nine players that took the court for USC, five came up with goose eggs. Stanford used ten players, with three goose eggs from the bench and only five points between the other two reserves. So what do Tara VanDerveer and Lindsay Gottlieb do to bring balanced scoring back to their teams? Not that a player like Watkins shouldn’t do what she does, but where is everyone else? I think that the disparity in shots taken should be worrisome to both teams, and it would be unwise (which neither VanDerveer nor Gottlieb is) not to address that.
However, that being said, it really was a hell of a performance by the freshman, one that may very well be repeated during her career at USC. So, another Top 5 goes down, but the weekend is just starting. Let’s see who is next.
The Ivy League and more Pac-12 action on display in Friday’s NCAAW action
As for the other four games yesterday, the Ivy League saw No. 25 Princeton down Yale by 20, 79-59, and No. 7 UCLA took out California 78-58 (is 20-point wins a theme?). Kaitlyn Chen had 27 points for the Tigers, who won their 11th straight. Princeton stayed ahead the entire game, opening the lead in the third quarter by outscoring Yale 29-16. The Bruins of UCLA stepped on the paws of the Golden Bears of Cal, with Charisma Osborne going off for 32 on 14/20 shooting.
Ugonne Onyiah had 21 points on 9/11 shooting. Only Angela Dugalic (12) and Londynn Jones (18) for the Bruins and Marta Suarez (14) and Ioanna Krimili (15) for Cal ended with double figures.
Unfortunately, the kids from the Evergreen state did not fare as well yesterday, with Washington State falling to No. 6 Colorado 63-57 and Washington taken out by No. 20 Utah 83-65. In the Colorado/WSU game, Frida Forman scored 27 for Colorado, while Tara Wallack scored 19 for the Cougars. In a bit of a back-and-forth game, Colorado led by only 3 going into the fourth quarter and managed to add another three to their lead for the win.
Alissa Pili scored 31 for the Utes and Hannah Stines 24 for Washington in a game that Utah never fell behind. Pili scored 21 of her 31 points with seven 3s in the second half which really sealed the deal for Utah. So that’s it for today. I’ll be back Monday with a full recap of the weekend.
‘And that, my friends, as they say, is that.’ — Martin Ruben.
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