No. 10 USC freshman punishes Arizona
LOS ANGELES – JuJu Watkins scored 32 points and No. 10 Southern California used a dominant third quarter to pull away from Arizona and win 81-64 on Monday night for its fourth consecutive victory.
The stellar freshman notched her ninth 30-point game of the season, breaking the school record of eight set by Cherie Nelson in 1988-89.
USC (18-4, 8-4 Pac-12) moved back into a fourth-place tie with ninthranked UCLA in league play.
Kayla Padilla added 15 points on five 3-pointers for the Trojans. Rayah Marshall scored all of her 12 points over the last two quarters and had 10 rebounds.
Esmery Martinez scored 13 points to lead the Wildcats (12-12, 4-8). She fouled out and had to be helped off the floor with 4:11 left in the game after getting hurt.
Watkins was just 9 of 23 from the floor, but made all of her 12 free throws in a rare national television appearance for the guard who is the nation’s second-leading scorer at 27.5 points per game.
She also had seven rebounds and four assists in a game-high 38 minutes.
Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller jokingly jumped into actor Will Ferrell’s lap during a timeout.
Watkins scored nine points in the third when the Trojans outscored the Wildcats 23-11 to take a 60-44 lead after leading by two early in the period.
The Trojans were outrebounded 17-11 by the league’s worst rebounding team in the first two quarters before asserting themselves after halftime. They finished with a 34-29 edge on the boards. USC committed 19 turnovers to 15 for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats led by five in the second quarter before USC hit four consecutive 3-pointers, including two by Padilla, to go into the break leading 37-33.
Both teams shot poorly in the first quarter, combining to go 8 of 30. Watkins was 1 of 6 from the floor and missed both of her 3-point attempts.
Ohio State rises to No. 2
Ohio State is up to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll, matching the best ranking in school history.
The Buckeyes, who were fifth last week, have won 11 straight games and their only losses this season have come to USC, UCLA and Michigan. The Buckeyes started as No. 7 in the preseason poll before falling to 20th on Jan. 1. They were 18th on Jan. 15 and have been on the rise ever since.
South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 choice, grabbing all 35 first-place votes again in Monday’s poll after routing Missouri and thenNo. 11 UConn. The Gamecocks did it without star center Kamilla Cardoso, who was playing for Brazil in the Olympic qualifying tournament.
Stanford moved up three places to No. 3. Iowa dropped to fourth and Texas climbed to fifth.
It’s the sixth consecutive week that there’s a different No. 2 team in the poll after Iowa blew a double-digit lead to Nebraska on Sunday. Caitlin Clark, who is eight points short of the NCAA record for career scoring, was scoreless in the fourth quarter.
The Hawkeyes weren’t the only top five team to lose last week. N.C. State dropped three spots to sixth after falling to Virginia Tech. Colorado fell four spots to eighth after a loss at home to Oregon State. Kansas State remained seventh.