LOS ANGELES — The No. 11/10 USC women’s basketball team fell behind visiting Washington in the first quarter and was unable to manufacture a comeback, falling for the first time at Galen Center this season in a 62-59 defeat at the hands of the Huskies. USC is now 14-4 overall and 4-4 in Pac-12 play, while Washington goes to 13-6, 5-3.
USC had led for just 30 seconds in the first quarter before the Huskies hit the gas, hitting at a 53.6-percent clip as Washington built a 34-23 lead by halftime. USC was shooting a mild 33.3 percent to that point, and trailed on the boards 21-10 through those first 20 minutes of play at Galen Center. The Trojans got as close as one point away with two seconds to go on Kayla Padilla’s sixth 3-pointer of the day, but the Trojans were tagged with a last-second foul rather than converting on a turnover, and Washington closed out the game with free throws to wrap up the win. USC finished out the game shooting 37.3 from the floor and was 9-of-23 from 3-point range, while Washington wrapped at 46 percent overall and was 7-of-17 from beyond the arc. The Huskies also won on the boards 39-24, although the Trojans forced 22 turnovers out of the visitors.
USC was led by Padilla’s 20 points, which gave the grad transfer her 1,500th career points. JuJu Watkins was next for USC with 19 points, while Rayah Marshall pulled down 11 rebounds for the Trojans. Washington received a game-high 21 points from Lauren Schwartz, who hit three 3-pointers, along with a double-double from Dalayah Daniels on 12 points and 13 boards.
USC struck first on a 3-pointer from McKenzie Forbes, but Washington responded with a 7-0 rally to work into the lead. The teams traded buckets for the next stretch, with USC capping the quarter with a 3-pointer from Kayla Padilla as the Huskies held a 15-13 lead after the first 10 minutes of action. Washington rallied again with a 6-0 spurt early in the second and would maneuver ahead 26-17 by the 4-minute mark. The Huskies wrapped a pair of 3-pointers around a bucket in the paint from Rayah Marshall, then landed another to move ahead 32-19 with a minute to go in the half. Watkins struck twice in that span, with Washington delivering a runner as well as the Huskies gripped a 34-23 lead at the break.
Kayla Padilla went on an 8-0 surge all her own early in the third, landing back-to-back threes and then hitting a pair of free throws to carve the deficit down to five. Watkins…
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