USC Women's Basketball: How Trojans Leaned On Size For Extra Scoring Punch Vs ASU

JuJu Watkins wasn't the only Trojans scoring game in town.

Although your USC Trojans had built up an impressive edge over the Arizona State Sun Devils in the opening quarter of their matchup last night thanks to a combination of great shotmaking and stellar defense, ASU proved resilient, closing out the second quarter down just seven points, 38-31.

Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb knew that superstar freshman shooting guard couldn't provide all their offense, although she's been capable of doing that before, per The Associated Press/The Los Angeles Times.

“We just found another gear,” Gottlieb said. “We know we have an interior athletic presence and talented bigs and we challenged them to assert themselves.”

Junior center Rayah Marshall scored 13 points and, perhaps more importantly, pulled down 16 rebounds. Grad student forward McKenzie Forbes poured in 18 points of her won, none more critical than her contributions to a 12-2 run (she chipped in a steal and four points, while Watkins had six) at the top of the third quarter that helped stabilize USC's lead for good.

Gottlieb also indicated that a lot of her team's offense was predicated on interior scoring.

“Our energy was really good,” Gottlieb said. “We established ourselves inside the paint.”

The Women of Troy would go on to win comfortably, 81-63. The No. 10 Trojans improve to a 17-4 record on the year, while the Sun Devils drop to a middling 10-13 tally.