STANFORD, Calif. — The Maples Pavilion crowd was increasingly restless. The No. 4 Stanford Cardinal were facing the 15th-ranked USC Trojans in their sole regular-season meeting, and USC freshman JuJu Watkins was on a heater.
The phenom came out of the locker room with 25 points, but murmurs emerged from the stands as Watkins sank basket after basket to start the second half.
A pull-up 3-pointer in transition. Free throws. A midrange baseline jumper. A step-back at the free throw line.
After Watkins swished her next shot — a transition 3 from the same spot as the first — Stanford fans could only oooh and aaaah.
USC downed Stanford 67-58, and Watkins finished with a school-record 51 points, the most by any men’s or women’s Division I player this season. Against the Pac-12 perennial power. On the Cardinal’s home floor, no less.
Watkins’ 50-piece stands alone, but fierce matchups between top-15 teams and highlight-reel performances were nightly occurrences in the Pac-12 this season….
