No. 4 Southern Cal shuts down Gophers women's basketball's late push

The Gophers women's basketball team made a late push, but it ultimately couldn't overcome a shaky start in an 82-69 loss to No. 4 Southern Cal Thursday night at Galen Center in Los Angeles. It's the U's third loss in its last five games.
Down 15 points entering the fourth quarter, the Gophers (18-4, 6-4 Big Ten) opened the final frame on a 9-0 run to make it 64-58 with 8 minutes, 10 seconds still to play. That was as close as it would get as Juju Watkins went on her on 7-0 run for the Trojans (19-2, 9-0) just a few possessions later to push it back to a 14-point lead. The U wasn't ever able to recover.
Watkins had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Kiki Iriafen led the Trojans with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Minnesota dug itself a 10-point hole after the first quarter and was trying to play catchup the rest of the way. The Gophers got strong performances from the likes of Sophie Hart, who had a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds, and Mallory Heyer, who finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Amaya Battle and Grace Grocholski both played all 40 minutes.
Battle finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Grocholski had eight points, five boards and four assists.
The Gophers never led in the contest.
Minnesota returns to action for another tough test Sunday against No. 1 UCLA. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.