On Friday, #4 Stanford women’s basketball fell to #15 USC at home by a final score of 67-58. USC freshman guard Juju Watkins led the way for the Trojans with 51 points and 11 rebounds, setting a program single-game scoring record. The only other Trojans player to score in double figures was graduate student guard/forward McKenzie Forbes, with 12 points and five rebounds.

As for Stanford, senior forward Cameron Brink stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, 15 rebounds, and eight blocks while junior forward Kiki Iriafen had 16 points and nine rebounds. USC improves to 15-4 overall and 5-4 in the Pac-12 while Stanford falls to 19-3 overall and 8-2 in the Pac-12.

BOX SCORE: USC at Stanford-Friday, February 2nd

VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference | USC

“First off, you saw a great great player out there, JuJu Watkins really had a great game,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “She had a great game. We’re disappointed because we know we’re better than that and I think that we just have to really go back to the drawing board and we’re not gonna win with shooting the shots that we took and not making them. We battled, we got back to within two with about two or three minutes to go and then Forbes hit a big shot. I thought that was the dagger.

“Our team battled, stayed with things, we just have to play better. We have to take care of the basketball, we had too many turnovers, we have to do a better job rebounding, really all facets of the game were disappointing. I know our team and I have confidence that our team will get back and we’ll have a much better game on Sunday.”

Stanford led 12-7 with 4:36 to go in the 1st quarter. Hannah Jump was up to five points for the Cardinal while JuJu Watkins had five points for USC. Stanford was shooting 5-13 from the field while USC was shooting 2-10.

Stanford would lead 18-14 at the end of the 1st quarter. Jump‘s 8 points on 3-3 shooting from the field led Stanford while Juju Watkins’ 12 points led USC. Neither team was shooting great. Stanford was 6-19 from the field while USC was 4-17.

With 8:03 to go in the half, it was tied 21-21 as Juju Watkins had 19 of USC’s 21 points. Stanford needed to find a way to slow her down.

Stanford would lead 29-23 with 4:30 to go in the half. Stanford had made five of their last seven field goal attempts as Jump was up to 10 points.

At halftime, it was tied up 31-31. Jump was leading the Cardinal with 10 points while Brink was doing a little bit of everything with five points, 10 rebounds, and six blocks. As for Watkins, she was going off for 25 points and four rebounds. She was carrying the Trojans on her back.

USC led 43-35 with 5:52 to go in the 3rd quarter as Watkins was now up to 37 points and five rebounds on 13-19 shooting from the field, 5-6 shooting from 3-point range, and 6-6 shooting from the foul line. Stanford was playing tight defense on her and she was still knocking her shots down. It was amazing to watch.

USC would lead 52-42 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Brink was trying to keep Stanford in the game with her 11 points, 14 rebounds, and eight blocks, but Watkins was just on another level with 40 points. The only question was whether or not Watkins would be able to finish strong or if fatigue would set in.

USC would lead 54-48 with 4:02 to go as Stanford was trying to claw their way back into the game. Watkins was still at 40 points for the Trojans. Brink was up to 15 points, 15 rebounds, and eight blocks for the Cardinal. This game was starting to tighten up.

With 2:17 to go, USC led 58-56 with the ball. Stanford was hoping to get one more stop. On that possession, McKenzie Forbes made a tough floater to beat the shot clock, making it a 60-56 lead for USC. That sucked the air out of Maples Pavilion and gave momentum to the Trojans for good. Watkins would find her footing down the stretch and score 11 points in the quarter, walking out with 51 points while USC walked out with a 67-58 victory.

“I mean nothing,” Forbes said of what she saw on that shot. “I just knew I had to get it up. I was trying to get fouled a little bit. But, thank basketball gods it went in.”

“It’s not easy at all,” Watkins said of her putting up 51 points. “I want to preface that I think Stanford is a great team. Coach Tara is amazing. So to come here and get a win, it really means a lot for the team. And also we battle every day in practice. We battle every day in the summer. So, a lot of that has really helped me transition from high school to college and I’m just grateful for my coach, for teammates, I mean, I wouldn’t be able to do without them…It was just a great environment. I dunno. I think halftime when I looked up I was like damn, I have like 25 points. I could get like 50! And then I was just, it was crazy.”

For USC, this is a huge win. They came in playing .500 ball in league, so to walk out with a win at Stanford is big-time. And then on top of that, JuJu Watkins had one of the most amazing performances any visiting player has ever had at Maples Pavilion. In any sport. She was fantastic all night long and truly carried her team on her shoulders. While I don’t think that’s a sustainable way to win night in night out, I think USC knows that and decided to ride the hot hand. Fortunately for them, it all worked out.

“She got going and we tried a lot of different people guarding her,” VanDerveer said of Watkins. “We tried some different things against her and she really, we fouled her too much, too. She had nineteen free throws. So, we didn’t do the job we needed to do, but again I think that our team it’s early enough in the season that our team can learn and listen and we can improve. We cannot expect to beat a really good team taking the shots that we took, turning the ball the way we turned it over, not getting o-boards, and not keeping them off the glass.

“So it’s, again it was a two-point game, we fouled, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance. So, it’s disappointing. I really believe we’re better than that and I know that Cam and Kiki and the rest of their team will follow their lead and I think you’ll see a much more competitive game on Sunday.”

“We saw something that I’ve never seen before in my life,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said of Watkins’ performance. “It’s unbelievable and I think the most significant thing is that JuJu is coming off, you know our team’s kinda toughest loss of the year. And a performance she wasn’t happy with. And that’s hard. And her demeanor from the second that game ended against Washington ‘til now is what sets her apart to me more than these numbers.

“I mean, all week I said this kid is different. She’s special the way she takes coaching, the way she’s a teammate, the way she holds herself accountable, the way she raises her level, so I did not predict this. Right? No one could predict this. But I think that what is so special about her is everything like inside and obviously it came out today in a way that if you love basketball, I don’t know how you’re not blown away…I’m just happy to have been a part of this and big win for our program.”

As for Stanford, this is a disappointing loss. They couldn’t generate enough offense while JuJu Watkins lit them up like a Christmas tree in Union Square. To some extent, Stanford just has to tip their hat to Watkins and move on and yet they also have to be frustrated that they weren’t able to put up enough points to not even allow her scoring outburst to beat them.

“I think we took a lot of bad shots, to be honest with you,” VanDerveer said. “We had one pass, people not taking shots that are their shots within our offense and once you start taking bad ones, then even your good ones don’t go in. So, we’re just, I mean, I’m just looking at one for five, four for fourteen, six for eighteen, O for two, you’re not going to win games like that. Shooting that way. So, our shot selection and just not playing with any flow. It was very disappointing.”

“I wouldn’t say they are any more physical than any other team in the Pac,” Brink said of USC. “I just we just had a really off night. So we’re gonna go back to the drawing board like Tara said and be better on Sunday…I think losing is part of the game. How you recover from it is how you show who you really are. So, I think I’m not too down about it. I think JuJu had an amazing game. I think for me I had a bad night and that’s ok. I’m not going to get too down on myself. I’m proud of the way we came back and yeah, it happens. The Pac-12 is the best conference in the country, so I’m not too down about it. We’re moving forward.”

At this point, all that Stanford can do is move on from this one and get ready for #7 UCLA on Sunday. That will tip off at 1:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and Varsity Network radio.

“They split with USC, I don’t know what happened with Colorado or with UCLA and Cal or whatever, but they have a really great perimeter score in Londynn Jones,” VanDerveer said of UCLA. “They have a really good perimeter and they’re very physical inside, too. So, it’ll be a battle and we knew that this weekend would be a real tough challenge. There’s no easy games in the Pac-12 and we have to keep getting better and stick together.”

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