Arizona women’s basketball beat USC 81-75 in double overtime on the road in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 5. The Wildcats demonstrated pure grit by pulling off a win after beating UCLA in an upset two days before.
First Half
Shaina Pellington made the first points of the game off of a pull-up jumper. Arizona held the lead 12-11 against the Trojans at the end of the first quarter. The Trojans went two for two on free throws, and averaged 50% on 3-pointers before the second quarter.
Arizona struggled to score in the second quarter, only putting six points in the Trojans’ basket. The score at the end of the second quarter was 24-18 in favor of USC. Arizona missed both free throw opportunities compared to the Trojans who were able to capitalize on one out of three of their chances.
Second Half
Both teams came into the half ready and focused. Arizona took the lead back making the score 39-36 Wildcats at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter Arizona had the lead all the way until the last 43 seconds of the game. The Trojans made two free throws to take a two point lead. Arizona’s Jade Loville hit a dagger of a jumper with 34 seconds left to tie the game at 58-58 and send the game into overtime.
Overtime
Trojans player Kadi Sissoko had a great layup securing the first points in overtime. Cate Reese responded with a beautiful 3-pointer to push Arizona back into the lead. Both teams went back and forth, tying each other once again 68-68 at the buzzer. The game then went into double overtime.
Arizona head coach Adia Barnes subbed out Lauren Fields and subbed in Loville. Reese scored a layup to put the Wildcats in the lead with 4:30 left in the second overtime. Later on, Loville sank a nice three making the score 73-70 Arizona with 3:20 left in the game. With fifteen seconds left in the game, Barnes made a few substitutions. Reese decided to take the game into her own hands by making four free throws to put Arizona far enough in the lead.
The Wildcats managed to pull off the win in the final seconds of the second overtime against the USC Trojans. The final score was 81-75.
Reese absolutely dominated the Trojans basket, putting in a total of 33 points on USC. She was followed by Pellington and Loville, who had 17 points each. Arizona put in the work against the Trojans to show they were worthy of their new No. 17 ranking in the AP Poll. The Wildcats next game will be at home on Thursday, Feb. 9, against Stanford University in McKale Center.
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