USC Women's Basketball: Trojans Continue to Drop in AP Rankings After Tough Stretch
USC women's basketball has dropped down the AP rankings after their latest loss to Washington. The Trojans were outclassed for most of the game, falling to 34-23 at the half. USC was able to make it a game for the second half, thanks to a third-quarter run, but Washington held control and came out with a 62-59 win.
Washington's defense did a good job stopping McKenzie Forbes and limiting Juju Watkins until late in the game. Though Kayla Padilla shined for the Trojans, it wasn't enough to get the win.
Overall the loss caused the Trojans to fall nine spots in the AP rankings since they have now lost three out of their last four games. At their highest, USC ranked sixth this season for multiple weeks. However, the Trojans quickly dropped five spots to No. 11 last week after back-to-back losses to Utah and Colorado, before falling another four spots to No. 15 after their loss to Washington.
The loss wasn't just disappointing because it dropped the Trojans in the rankings, but because it came after USC had rebounded with a win over Washington State. Instead of building off that win, the Trojans are back in the loss column. The loss was also discouraging because it was USC's first loss at home at the Galen Center this season.
USC has struggled against some of their Pac-12 opponents, having all four of their losses come against conference rivals. The Pac-12 has quite a few of women's college basketball's top teams, but USC likely thought they'd do better against these teams, especially since they were ranked higher than Washington and Utah, and had proven the ability to defeat UCLA.
It won't be easy for USC to rebound again with their next matchup at No. 6 Stanford, who are 19-2 overall and 8-1 against conference rivals. USC will have to play significantly better on the road to avoid their second straight loss.
