UCLA Women’s Basketball: Trojans Hand Bruins First Loss Of Season
Tonight, while playing in enemy territory, your UCLA Bruins women's basketball program lost its first game of the 2023-24 season, albeit to another top 10-ranked (via The Associated Press) national team in Pac-12 rival the USC Trojans.
UCLA fell 73-65, in a game it only led for all of 7:13 in the opening quarter, powered by 32 points from superstar USC freshman wing JuJu Watkins.
What's worse, USC's defensive paint anchor, junior center Rayah Marshall, was out with an illness, but the Bruins failed to capitalize despite supposedly having an edge by playing their own available-but-also-sick star center, sophomore Lauren Betts.
Watkins goaded the Bruins into fouling her early and often. She notched four of her 16 total looks at the charity stripe in the game's first quarter, while also chipping in a layup for good measure early. A pair of late triples from ex-Harvard transfer McKenzie Forbes closed out the period with a huge 15-8 edge. Betts strove to keep pace in the opening frame.
Following an 8-2 UCLA run to get within a point of USC early in the second period, 17-16, the Trojans turned on a scoring push, closing out the contests half with a 17-3 run.