What a great weekend for USC Women’s Basketball. The Trojans were the team to watch after the Stanford upset of the league heavyweights brought them national and her Pac-12 prominence. Everyone wanted to beat them and bring Peg down. USC had to embark on a Washington road trip, first to Pullman on Friday and then to Seattle on Sunday. Washington State and Washington waited to launch an ambush and throw USC off course. Will this team allow it?
No, it was very tense on the University of Washington campus on Sunday afternoon.
Leading 54-49 with 15 seconds remaining, USC missed two free throws, allowed a tying 3-point shot, and committed a turnover. The Trojans should have celebrated in the locker room after 40 minutes of regulation. Instead they had to start over in overtime and scrap for a game they couldn’t finish.
It was the ultimate mental test a team and program learning how to build a winning identity deserve. It was necessary to walk on the hot coals of difficulty.USC made things difficult, but this is the kind of crucible that teams need to deal with in order to be considered tournament worthy.
The Trojan passed the test.
Former USC pitcher Randy Johnson would have been impressed by the women at USC. They shutout Washington 9-0 in overtime and won 63-54 over the Huskies. USC dominated Washington’s road trip, going 15-4 this season and 5-3 in the Pac-12. USC isn’t his NCAA Tournament Rock, but this team is close to securing a bid. Trojans should be fine now compared to Bubbles if they avoid bad losses and even get some quality wins.
USC’s elite defense forced 22 Washington turnovers and allowed only five 3-throw attempts. Washington’s Daraya Daniels had a great game, fielding 8 of 10 times where he attempted a goal. Excluding Daniels, Washington’s players had 15 of his 49 off the field, just over 30%.
USC’s Rayah Marshall was the player in the game, posting a truly impressive stat line of 8 blocked shots, 16 rebounds, 5 steals and 9 points. The point was the least important part of that line, so it’s mentioned last. eight blocks? Five thieves? From the same player in the same game? With 16 boards? holy smoke. It’s an all-out defensive effort that allowed USC to blank Washington in overtime and take another hard-fought win.
USC will travel to Salt Lake City for their next game on Friday against the nationally ranked Utah Uts.
list
USC women’s basketball moves to planned NCAA tournament field after big win over Stanford
The story was originally published on Trojans Wire
