Go beyond the scoreboard
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PALO ALTO — JuJu Watkins pulled up from long range and hit contested three-pointers. She powered to the rim against Stanford’s two star posts to draw fouls and get to the line.
She outscored Stanford all by herself in the third quarter.
The sensational freshman scored a USC-record 51 points — the most in major NCAA women’s basketball this season — and the 15th-ranked Trojans upset No. 4 Stanford 67-58 on Friday night.
Watkins hit a key three with 3:10 remaining and four free throws over the final 18 seconds to break the previous USC scoring mark of 50 set by Cherie Nelson against California on March 11, 1989. Cheryl Miller held the freshman record of 39 points.
Not that Watkins is ready to consider herself among the program’s greats just yet.
“It’s crazy. I don’t really think about it too much,” she said. “I have a long way to go ‘til I will consider myself in that category with Cheryl and Lisa (Leslie) and the greats. I’m just honored, honestly, blessed to be in this environment, space and time in women’s basketball. I’m just soaking it all in.”
Watkins hit six three-pointers and converted 17 of 19 free throws to help the Trojans (15-4, 5-4) send the Cardinal (19-3, 8-2) to their first home loss of the season.
The basketball-crazed home crowd even appreciated the performance, by an opponent no less.
“Every time I scored all I heard was ‘oooh,’” Watkins said. “It wasn’t even like a boo. I was like, ‘All right.’ It was crazy.”
(Josie Lepe / Associated Press)
Recruited by Stanford, Watkins had 25 by halftime and finished 14 of 26 from the floor. Her 3 with 5:52 left in the third put her at 37 and USC ahead 43-35 — giving her more points than Stanford had total. Watkins came in averaging 25.8 points and Hall of Fame Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer turned to freshman Courtney Ogden to try stopping her.
In the handshake line after the final buzzer, VanDerveer told USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb, “She was really good.”
“I said, ‘She sure was,’” Gottlieb said.
LeBron James, James Harden, Paul George, Jewell Loyd and more share why they are big fans of USC freshman phenom JuJu Watkins.
Watkins hardly slept this week after a loss to Washington, spending hours in the gym getting up shots. A security guard even called Gottlieb to make sure it was OK.
Stanford star Cameron Brink had 19 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocked shots — swatting six shots in the first half. Her layup with 5:36 left pulled Stanford within six and she converted two free throws at 4:02 that made it 54-50 before Watkins took over once more.
And what a thrilling way for these two teams to begin the final weekend of the L.A. schools coming to the Bay Area for Pac-12 play before their move to the Big Ten. Gottlieb returns to Berkeley on Sunday to face her former Cal program.
“I’ll never forget this,” Gottlieb said. “And again it’s meaningful because it’s our last time playing Stanford in the Pac-12.”
Kiki Iriafen contributed 16 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinal, who lost for the first time in five games since a 71-59 defeat at Colorado on Jan. 14.
McKenzie Forbes added 12 points for USC, which had lost three of four since beating UCLA on Jan. 14.
USC missed six straight shots and had a scoring drought of 4:31 before Watkins’ late three that was reviewed and stood. The Trojans went on a 6-0 run late in the third as Stanford looked rushed and out of sorts during a one-for-eight shooting stretch.
(Josie Lepe / Associated Press)
“I think they were out of sorts a little bit because of what JuJu was doing,” Gottlieb said.
Both teams endured long scoring droughts.
USC went 5:44 between baskets in the first quarter — missing nine straight shots during a one-for-11 stretch before Watkins connected on a jumper with 2:14 left in the opening period.
Watkins got on a roll from there, scoring 25 of her team’s first 31 points and shooting nine for 13 after starting one for five.
“She’s an incredibly talented player. If she’s not shooting well then it might be a different story. But she got going,” VanDerveer said. “We tried a lot of different people guarding her, we tried some different things against here. We fouled her too much, too, she had 19 free throws. We didn’t do the job we needed to do.”
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Big picture
USC: Watkins outscored Stanford herself in the third quarter, 15-11. ... The Trojans had lost the previous 19 meetings on Stanford’s home floor in Maples Pavilion dating to a 62-59 victory on March 1, 2001.
Stanford: Dating to 1999-2000, the most points one player had scored against Stanford was Kelsey Plum’s 44 for Washington on Jan. 29, 2017, but Stanford rallied back from 18 points to win 72-68 in Seattle. ... This marked only the third time Stanford faced a ranked USC team since 1995-96, and first time with the Trojans in the top 15 since Stanford’s 80-50 home win against No. 6 USC on Feb. 24, 1994.
Up next for USC: at California on Sunday.
