No. 4 USC made history by beating No.2 UCLA 80-67 on Saturday in Los Angeles, sweeping the Bruins during the regular season and winning their first Big Ten title in their inaugural year in the conference.
JuJu Watkins did most of her damage during the first half, scoring 23 points. She ended the night with 30 points, three rebounds and five assists. Kiki Iriafen was crucial throughout with 17 points and nine rebounds in the win. In the loss, no one for UCLA played particularly well. Kiki Rice scored a team-high 16 points and Lauren Betts was held to just 11 points on 5-for-11 shooting.
How the Trojans won the battle for LA—again
From the jump, USC established their dominance. Watkins scored a 3-pointer to start the game and the Trojans went on a 9-0 run. The lead quickly extended to double digits, but UCLA finally got going midway through the first. After a pair of free throws by Rice, the Bruins trailed by just six. Rice then had a nice assist on a Angela Dugalic 3-pointer and USC led by just three points entering the second quarter.
But the rest of the first half was all USC. Betts couldn’t find any kind of rhythm and the Trojans came out to a quick 7-0 run to start the second quarter.
During the first seven and a half minutes of the quarter, UCLA only scored…
