UCLA women take out USC in battle of unbeatens

LOS ANGELES — Cori Close went with one of the more challenging nonconference schedules so that UCLA would be prepared for what could be the most rigorous Pac-12 races in conference history.

That certainly paid off Saturday in a battle of unbeaten crosstown rivals at a sold out Pauley Pavilion.

Londynn Jones scored 21 points, including five 3-pointers, as second-ranked UCLA defeated No. 6 USC 71-64, despite 27 points and 11 rebounds from JuJu Watkins in what was the conference opener for both teams in the final season of the Pac-12.

Lauren Betts had 15 points and eight rebounds while Kiki Rice scored 12 for the Bruins (12-0, 1-0 Pac-12), who beat the Trojans for the ninth straight time.

UCLA has won all four games this season when going against ranked opponents, but the first three happened on the road or neutral courts.

“Today was like a Sweet 16 matchup. I think our nonconference schedule gave us a lot of experience,” Betts said. “I think we came in today knowing that whatever happens, we were going to be the tougher and more together team.”

The game was attended by 13,659 fans, breaking the UCLA women’s basketball single-game mark. Among those in attendance were Clippers star Russell Westbrook, former NBA star Baron Davis and Las Vegas Aces GM Natalie Williams, all former UCLA standouts, as well as Candace Parker.

Watkins came in making 49.4% from the field, but was 7-of-24 for the worst-shooting game of her brief college career. She missed her first four from the field and had one stretch late in the second quarter and part of the third where she missed eight of nine.

“It’s not great to lose personally, but this is a learning lesson,” said Watkins, who is second in the nation in scoring at 26.8 points per game. “We haven’t faced a team like this so far. I needed to get used to the physicality and needed to slow things down.”

McKenzie Forbes scored 23 for the Trojans (10-1, 0-1) and Rayah Marshall pulled down 14 rebounds.

It was the first ranked matchup between the rivals since 1985 and the first since March 1981 where both have been in the top 10.

“They gave us everything we could handle,” UCLA’s coach Close said. “I was proud of our response We had adversity, foul trouble, players that didn’t play as well as they wanted and we responded.”

UCLA had a 10-point lead late in the third quarter before the Trojans answered back. A 3-pointer by Watkins with 6:46 remaining got them within 60-59 but UCLA went on an 8-2 spurt to get some breathing room, including a pair of 3-pointers by Jones.

“My team does a good job of finding me and the person who is hot in general. We do a good job of continuing to go with it,” said Jones, who had her fourth 20-point game of the season.

UCLA jumped out to a 14-2 lead to start the game, only to see the Trojans score the final nine points of the quarter.

A jumper by Watkins with 1:47 remaining in the quarter was USC’s first made shot from the field. That started a run where she scored 12 of the Trojans’ next 15 points, including a 3-pointer off a fast break with 7:54 remaining in the second quarter to give them a 17-15 advantage.

There would be nine more lead changes and six ties in the quarter before Angela Dugalic‘s 3-pointer with 37 seconds gave the Bruins a 38-37 halftime lead.

“I thought we showed a lot, especially being down early. We have many things to get better at but now the focus is on the next 17 conference games,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.