Indiana Women Push No. 4 USC But Can’t Push The Trojans Over

“(Indiana) did a really good job sending multiple bodies at JuJu (Watkins), so when they were turning the ball over, it was vital for us to capitalize off that. We got a lot off into transition,” USC’s Rayah Marshall said.

Indiana held Watkins, USC’s star guard, to 22 points. Watkins wasn’t completely limited by the Hoosiers – she scored 14 of those points in the second half – but her influence on the game was felt as the spotlight on her led to significant contributions from USC’s other players.

“I think it was just a matter of me kind of locking in and deciding that I wasn't going to let the defense determine what I got,” said Watkins on the defensive effort of Chloe Moore-McNeil.

Marshall had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Kendall Smith had 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Kiki Iriafen had 14 points and seven rebounds while Talia von Oelhoffen had 10 points.

Indiana was led by Sydney Parrish, who had 16 points. Moore-McNeil added 13 points.

The Hoosiers fought hard to get back in the game after trailing 44-35 with 6:57 left in the third quarter. Indiana was 6 of 11 from the field after that point, slowly reeling the Trojans in. A Moore-McNeil 3-pointer with 48 seconds left in the quarter put Indiana in front 50-48.

Watkins made a 3-point shot at the end of the quarter to briefly restore USC’s lead, but Parrish made a 3-pointer and a jumper to put Indiana up 55-51 with 8:13 left.

Then? Indiana’s offensive momentum ground to a halt.

Parrish had a stepback 3-pointer that was well short of the mark with 7:37 left, and it set in motion a frustrating stretch of missed opportunities for Indiana to build on their lead or halt USC’s push.

Von Oelhoffen hit a 3-pointer with 7:21 left to get USC started on a decisive 12-0 run that flipped a four-point Indiana lead into an eight-point Trojans advantage.

But it was the nature of the zero rather than the nature of the 12 for USC that hurt the Hoosiers. A turnover by Yarden Garzon led to a pair of Watkins free throws that put USC up, 56-55.

The shots Indiana took weren’t bad. On one, Garzon tried to use a screen by Karoline Striplin after the Watkins free throws to get a clean look, but it swirled out – one of several examples where Indiana had good shots fail to find the mark.

It was other little things that undermined the Hoosiers. An ill-timed turnover here, a few missed free throws there. It all added up.

Indiana never gave in. USC led 70-61 with 2:15 left, but a 3-pointer by Moore-McNeil finally ended Indiana’s field goal drought and a jumper by Bargesser with 1:25 left gave Indiana a chance and cut the deficit to four, 70-66.

After Indiana forced a shot clock violation, the Hoosiers had a chance to really make USC nervous, but Garzon missed a jumper with 37 seconds left, and after USC made one free throw, she missed another with 21 seconds left to seal Indiana’s fate.

The Hoosiers showed gumption in the first half to wipe out an early deficit, but like the second half, the Hoosiers couldn’t sustain their success.

Indiana fell behind 9-2 early in the game, but the Hoosiers took the first punch and delivered a powerful counterpunch.

Indiana’s defense set the tone. After a layup by Von Oelhoffen at the 6:47 mark, the Trojans didn’t make another field goal for the rest of the first quarter. The Trojans got complacent and sloppy with seven first quarter turnovers.

Once the Hoosiers acclimated to USC’s size advantage and physical advantage, they thrived working the seams in USC’s defensive front. A solid mix of cuts to the rim for layups and some 3-point makes fueled a 12-0 Indiana run. A loud Assembly Hall crowd was in full voice as Indiana took a 25-14 lead in the first minute of the second quarter.

The flip side of Indiana’s run was that the Hoosiers fouled a lot – and weren’t helped by some tightly called touch fouls that put them in big foul trouble. Every player in Indiana’s rotation except Shay Ciezki and Lilly Meister had at least two fouls by halftime. Striplin, who started in Meister’s place, had three.

Eventually, USC played this advantage and exacerbated the problems for Indiana by working the ball inside. Marshall had two traditional three-point plays in the second quarter to start to turn the game around for the Trojans. It was part of a 14-2 run that wiped out Indiana’s lead.

The Trojans kept taking it inside, scoring 10 of their 12 first-half points in the paint in the second quarter. Combined with the fact that Indiana didn’t make a bucket in the final 4:57 of the first half, USC surged in front 38-32 by halftime.

Indiana isn’t done with the Big Ten’s new West Coast schools. The Hoosiers journey to Oregon for a 9 p.m. ET tipoff on Friday.