The USC women’s basketball team hosted Fresno State at the Galen Center on Tuesday. This was not a normal start time of 7 or 7:30 p.m. The game was an early-evening tip at 6 p.m. in Los Angeles. USC played as though the game started at 6:30. The Trojans stumbled through the first few minutes. Midway through the first quarter, they trailed 10-6. Was this game going to be close? The first five minutes offered at least some intrigue in that regard.
Then the Trojans stopped playing with their food.
USC outscored Fresno State 16-2 over the remainder of the first quarter to take a 22-12 lead. In the second quarter, the Women of Troy outscored FSU 24-8. In the third quarter: 24-6. By the end of three quarters, USC led 70-26. USC outscored FSU 64-16 over two and a half quarters. The final was 89-40.
Notable is that UCLA beat Fresno State by 56 points earlier this season. USC won by 49. Also notable is that Kiki Iriafen and JuJu Watkins combined for 45 points and 19 rebounds. They both looked very comfortable on the court. When they do, USC rolls.
One other note: Lindsay Gottlieb was able to give 70 bench minutes to her reserves. USC is trying to get a look at different lineup combinations with Kennedy Smith out for an extended period of time with an injury. Finding combinations with JuJu and Kiki is part of this team’s learning process and evolutionary arc. These different lineup combinations uniting the stars and the bench are meant to give Gottlieb more tools and resources in February and March, when she might need to make certain moves to unlock this team’s potential and counter any chess moves opponents might make.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC women’s basketball blasts Fresno State after slow start
