LOS ANGELES — The women’s basketball universe coalesced in Los Angeles this weekend, with No. 3 USC and No. 4 UCLA hosting top-six opponents on back-to-back days heading into Thanksgiving.
But in the first of the two potential Final Four previews, the visiting No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish played spoiler to a crowd of 7,894 at Galen Center, defeating the Trojans 74-61 to hand USC its first loss of the season.
The Irish led wire to wire and had USC fans heading for the exits with 4:48 left after using a 16-2 run at the start of the fourth to jump ahead 21.
It was Notre Dame’s first double-digit road win over an Associated Press top-five opponent since February 2014.
“This group, they’re special,” said Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey, who felt her team played a “complete game.” “I’m so grateful to be able to lead them, and just really proud of the way that we’ve been resilient.”
“This was just an early opportunity to show what we can do, and I think that we did that,” guard Sonia…
