USC beats Arizona to move into Pac-12 Tournament semifinals
Rayah Marshall delivered a double-double and the USC Trojans used strong runs to open the first and fourth quarters in a 65-62 win over the Arizona Wildcats in the second round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday night. With the win, the Trojans move into the semifinals and will play Friday night at 7:30 pm against UCLA, which beat Utah in the fourth quarterfinal game on Thursday night.
This was USC’s third win against Arizona this season, with the last two decided by just five points combined. Through five minutes, this one did not look like it would be close.
USC led 13-0 with 4:34 remaining in the first quarter and cruised into the first break up 20-9. But Arizona used a 12-2 run to open the second half to eventually bring USC’s halftime lead to just 30-25. Arizona’s first lead of the game came on a layup with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter but USC’s Kaitlyn Davis responded with six points over the final 2:17 of the quarter to help keep the Trojans in front heading into the fourth.
There, McKenzie Forbes delivered two dagger threes. The first came early in the quarter to push USC’s lead to 51-44 and start an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter. The second pushed the USC lead to 60-52 with 2:47 remaining.
But Arizona wouldn’t go away. Arizona’s Jada Williams hit a three-pointer before USC’s JuJu Watkins put her stamp on the game with a driving layup through contact to give USC a 62-57 lead with just 21 seconds remaining.
Arizona defended Watkins well, holding her to just 5-of-14 shooting, 0-for-6 from three-point range and forcing her into nine turnovers. But the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year still scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Marshall finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds, including four on the offensive end, to go with three blocks and two assists.
The Trojans will need to clean things up on the offensive end in the next round. USC committed 21 turnovers in the game thanks in large part to the play of guard Helena Pueyo, who finished with six steals just two days after being named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.
UCLA and USC split their two games with each team winning at home.
Currently, ESPN’s bracketology has USC as a No. 2 seed in overall No. 1 seed South Carolina’s bracket. ESPN has both Stanford and UCLA as No. 1 seeds. There’s a chance USC could play UCLA in the semifinals and then Stanford in the finals of the Pac-12 tournament.
