No. 4 USC Women's Basketball Falls On The Road In 76-69 Loss At ...

IOWA CITY, IOWA — The No. 4 USC women's basketball team had a 15-game win streak come to a close with a tough road loss at Iowa as the Hawkeyes were hotter in pulling off a 76-69 win over the visiting Trojans in Iowa City today. USC goes to 19-2 overall and 9-1 in Big Ten play, while Iowa improves to 15-7, 5-6.

It was a tale of two quarters for the Trojans in the opening half of action. USC struggled in the first 10 minutes to the tune of a 7.1 percent outing from the floor for a season-low 10 points in that span. In the second quarter, though, it was Iowa's time to fall silent in front of a crowd of 14,998 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa's fifth 3-pointer of the half fell at 7:05, putting USC in a 23-4 hole. But that would be the last field goal for the Hawkeyes in the half, while USC got its groove back and also got to the free-throw line. A 17-1 rally pulled the Trojans back in striking distance, and then back-to-back JuJu Watkins buckets tugged the Trojans to their first lead right at the halftime buzzer, up 29-28 on Iowa at the break. USC wrapped the half shooting 25 percent overall, while Iowa was at 30 percent. The Trojans led on the boards 25-20 at halftime. After a wild second half that saw the Hawkeyes climb back out ahead, Iowa finished up the game having shot 44.6 from the floor to outpace USC's final 35.4 percent. The teams finished even at 37-37 on the rebounding front, while the Hawkeyes benefited from a 21-of-28 free-throw effort, ahead of USC's 16-of-18 conversion from the line. USC was tagged with a season-high 24 fouls in the loss. 

JuJu Watkins topped USC's scoresheet with 27 points and was joined in double digits by Kiki Iriafen's 13 points and 11 from Kennedy Smith. Iowa was paced by Lucy Olsen's 28 points, along with 13 from Addison O'Grady, 11 from Sydney Affolter and 10 from Hannah Stuelke.

Threes were flowing for the Hawkeyes out of the gates, as the hosts hit five 3-pointers in the first six minutes in taking an early 16-1 lead on the Trojans. That deficit deepened to 18-1 as USC kept coming up empty before JuJu Watkins broke the seal for the Trojans with a 3-pointer of her own in the final minute of the first. That had the scoreline as an 18-4 Iowa lead after 10 minutes of action — the fewest points scored by the Trojans in any game this season. USC would stare down a 23-4 deficit and mount an 11-1 rally while Iowa fell silent from the field for over for minutes. A three-point play from Watkins and a steal and finish from Kennedy Smith had the Trojan back within single digits at the 3-minute mark. The rally continued for USC thanks to defensive pressure, and Rayah Marshall and Watkins both struck next after Watkins had a successful trip to the stripe. Now having outscored the Hawkeyes 17-1 to make it a 24-21 margin, the Trojan defense stayed interruptive. Although Iowa earned some trips to the line, no Hawkeye buckets would land from any other spot on the floor down the stretch. Meanwhile, Talia von Oelhoffen found Watkins for a strike in the paint to bring USC within one, and then Watkins nabbed a steal and took it to the hole for a finish that beat the buzzer and brought USC into the lead for the first time, up 29-28 for halftime. 

The foul count tipped quickly against the Trojans to open the third, with three fast fouls in the first two minutes. Iowa used that boost to get out ahead 33-32 — with Smith nailing a three for the Trojan cause to add a bright spot amongst the whistles. Avery Howell would step up with a freshman 3-pointer of her own to break a tie and set USC up with a 37-34 with 6:50 on the clock. A three-point play from Kiki Iriafen had USC out to its largest lead at 45-39 with 3:49 on the clock. USC was up 50-45 at 2:10 on a von Oelhoffen three, but the Hawkeyes caught a late spark and would work into a 51-50 lead at the close of the third. Iowa found some success in the paint in the early goings of the fourth, sneaking ahead 61-57 with 6:40 on the clock. That advantage grew to a 69-60 margin with 3:10 to go, and then an Iowa three-point play that saw Smith tagged with her fifth foul had the Hawkeyes ahead 72-62 at 1:49. Kayleigh Heckel planted a three moments later, and Iriafen converted off a steal in the final minute to make it 74-67, but the Hawkeyes held their ground and emerged with a 76-67 victory.

NEXT:  USC has more Big Ten road work ahead as the Trojans travel to Wisconsin to face the Badgers at 6:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday (Feb. 5).  NOTABLE: - With a team-high 27 points today, SO JuJu Watkins has now scored 20 or more points in 46 of her 55 career games at USC. - Watkins now ranks No. 15 all-time at USC in career scoring with 1438 points. - With one 3-pointer made, Watkins has hit at least one three in USC's last 16 games. - Watkins has scored in double digits in all 21 games this season. - With 13 points today, GS Kiki Iriafen has scored in double digits in 20 of the 21 games she has played this season. - With four steals today, Kennedy Smith has recorded at least one steal in 12 of 14 games played. - USC's 35.4 percent shooting today was a season low (previous low was 35.8 percent in loss to Notre Dame). - USC is now 1-2 this season when shooting under 40 percent overall and 2-1 when scoring under 70 points. - USC's 24 fouls were a season high. - This was the third time this season that USC has shot fewer free throws than its opponent (also vs. Notre Dame and at UConn) - USC's four points scored in the first quarter was its lowest total in a game this season. Previous low was 10 points in the first quarter vs. Notre Dame on Nov. 23. - USC is now 0-2 this season when trailing at halftime and also 0-2 when trailing entering the fourth quarter. - USC's 15-game win streak had been its longest since the 1982-83 season.  - This was USC's first-ever game at Iowa and the Toojans are now 1-5 all-time against the Hawkeyes.