Coming off of a rare loss, the USC women’s basketball team was happy to return to the court and find that winning feeling again.
Mission accomplished as the Trojans defeated Seton Hall 84-51 on Wednesday at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California. It was a showcase game as part of the 19-team, 21-game, four-day college basketball event that includes both women’s and men’s teams called the Acrisure Series.
USC lost to Notre Dame on Saturday, a setback that knocked them from No. 3 to No. 6 in the latest AP poll. Superstar JuJu Watkins said getting back out on the court Wednesday was a positive step to shaking off that loss.
“A lot of us were excited to just kind of come out and redeem ourselves on the floor,” said Watkins who led the Trojans with a casual 20 points in the win on 7-of-13 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers. “I know for me, I was excited to be playing again and put the past behind us.”
The Trojans will have Thursday off and then play another game in this event at 4 p.m. on Friday when they face Saint Louis. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said the team will practice on Thursday but will also have a team Thanksgiving meal and some family time, and they will return to the arena to watch the USC men face Saint Mary’s at 6 p.m.
Forget rebounding and defense, Gottlieb joked that one of the main strengths of her team is, in fact, eating.
“Eating is up at the top of the list of what this team likes to do,” she said. “But also a lot of the players have their families here with us which we really value, so there will be some family time, too. Should be a good day.”
In Wednesday’s win over Seton Hall (4-2), the Trojans (5-1) used a burst at the end of the first quarter that gave them a separation that they maintained the rest of the way, and it was a freshman that led the way.
Reserve Avery Howell came in with hustle plays, active hands and some lights-out shooting. With USC holding a 17-11 lead, Howell made a 3-pointer, a lay-up, another 3-pointer and a buzzer-beating jumper for 10 of her 14 points. When the quarter ended, the Trojans found themselves with a 27-13 lead. The game really wasn’t in doubt the rest of the way.
Watkins and Howell were two of the Trojans’ four double-figures scorers to go with top transfer Kiki Iriafen, who had 15 points and was the clear MVP of the game. Senior Rayah Marshall stuffed the box score with 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, three steals, two blocks and no turnovers.
On a team with superstars, megawatt transfers and talented freshmen, Marshall has been a mainstay for the Trojans. As a veteran she takes that leadership role seriously.
“Playing under coach G now for four years, and with a lot of new faces this year, I try to be as vocal as possible,” Marshall said next to a beaming coach Gottlieb who said she loves Marshall’s athletic ability and activity level. “I’m a general defensively for our team and our No. 1 goal is to win and hold everyone on our team to that standard of winning.”
The game’s high-scorer was Seton Hall’s Faith Masonius with 25 points, including the biggest highlight-play of the game when she banked in a shot from just in front of halfcourt to beat the third-quarter buzzer.
Coach Gottlieb said that like every team in November, they are still ironing things out and working on their attention to detail, and an event like the Acrisure Series is perfect for that.
“What a really cool event and what a beautiful arena,” she said to start her post-game news conference. “Happy to be around so much basketball. Proud of the way our team approached this game. Coming off a loss, we were very focused on being better. It was a good game to challenge ourselves.”
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: JuJu Watkins and USC women’s basketball beats Seton Hall in Acrisure Series
