Northwestern women's basketball team forfeits wildfire games to USC, UCLA

The Big Ten announced Wednesday that the Northwestern women's basketball team has been assessed forfeit losses to fourth-ranked Southern California and No. 2 UCLA, games that were postponed due to the wildfires in Los Angeles last month.

Northwestern, which falls to 9-19 (2-15 Big Ten), postponed its trip to Los Angeles due to fires that were ravaging the area at the time. The Wildcats were scheduled to play UCLA on Jan. 12 and the Trojans on Jan. 15.

The Big Ten announced those games would not be made up, with Northwestern taking the losses "per conference rules." The losses drop Northwestern to 16th in the Big Ten standings; only the top 15 teams are invited to the conference tournament. Northwestern's final game is Sunday at home vs. Nebraska (18-10, 9-8).

Other sporting events were moved away from L.A. during the fires, including a Los Angeles Rams playoff game and a PGA Tour event. It's unclear if attempts were made to change venues for Northwestern's two games in L.A.

USC improves to 26-2 (16-1); UCLA is now 27-1 (15-1). The teams will battle it out for the regular-season title on Saturday at UCLA.