On Sunday, #2 Stanford women’s basketball was upset by USC on the road at the Galen Center by a final score of 55-46. USC guard Destiny Littleton led the way for the Trojans with 11 points and 6 assists while forward Okako Adika had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Stanford forward Cameron Brink was the top performer for the Cardinal with 11 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks. USC improves to 13-4 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 17-2 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-12.
This game was low scoring from the jump as USC led 11-4 at the end of the 1st quarter. Adika was leading the Trojans with 5 points. As for Stanford, they really needed to get rolling on offense as they were shooting 2-10 from the field.
Stanford would wake up a bit in the 2nd quarter, cutting it to a one point game (17-16) after a 3-pointer from Brooke Demetre. After being held to their lowest point total in one quarter all season long, Stanford was finally able to get going a bit offensively.
At halftime, USC would lead 24-19. Littleton was up to 9 points for the Trojans. Stanford won the 2nd quarter 15-13 as Brink was up to 7 points and 6 rebounds.
With 4:44 to go in the 3rd quarter, USC led 33-28. Destiny Littleton was leading the Trojans with 12 points while Taylor Bigby had 9 points. Talana Lepolo and Cameron Brink each had 9 points for the Cardinal.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, USC led 43-33. The Trojans were on a 7-0 run after Kayla Williams made a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer. Stanford needed to turn things around fast.
USC continued to stay in front up 46-39 with 4:45 to go. Haley Jones was having a rough night, scoring her 4th points of the entire game after a put back. It just had not been her day. Brink was leading the Cardinal with 11 points and 11 rebounds but wasn’t getting enough help. Littleton was up to 14 points for USC.
With 2:27 to go, USC led 47-41. Stanford was running out of time and in the end did run out of time and gas as they failed to make a final push. USC came out on top winning 55-46. USC played great defense and Stanford wasn’t able to figure them out. The Trojans definitely deserved this win.
For USC, this is a huge win. Beating the number two team in the nation is a big deal. They needed a signature win for their NCAA tournament resume and now they have one. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and her staff put together a great game plan and their players executed it really well.
As for Stanford, this loss is disappointing, but it could be a blessing in disguise in that it exposed some things they need to work on. Right at the top is figuring out how to get more out of Hannah Jump. A key to the game coming in was getting more out of her and instead, she scored in single digits for the third straight game in a row with just one point. Teams have figured out that if you take Jump out of the game, Stanford’s offense really struggles. Stanford has to get her back in double figures. They cannot win a national title if she isn’t on her game.
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Utah on Friday at 6:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks. Utah is a top ten program in the nation right now and will come to The Farm fired up.
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