Washington sends USC to first loss at home this season in upset

Lindsay Gottlieb laments USC’s ‘level of want’ in upset loss to Washington

USC's Taylor Bigby and Rayah Marshall try to steal the ball from Washington's Chloe Briggs.

By JILL PAINTER LOPEZ

Associated Press

Jan. 28, 2024 Updated 4:58 PM PT

Lauren Schwartz scored 21 points and Dalayah Daniels added a double-double to lead Washington to a 62-59 upset win over No. 11 USC on Sunday.

USC’s Kayla Padilla scored 20 points on six-for-nine shooting from three-point range to pull the Trojans within one late. JuJu Watkins scored 19 points but had an off-day shooting, making just eight of 27 shots.

Washington (13-6, 3-5 Pac-12 Conference) has won two of its last three games. USC (14-4, 4-4) has lost two of its last four.

“It’s the first time I thought we came out and said, ‘We’re wearing USC on our jerseys and therefore we’re going to win,’” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “You can’t win like that.”

The Trojans cut the lead to 60-59 on Padilla’s three-pointer with two seconds left. McKenzie Forbes was whistled for a foul with less than a second remaining and Schwartz made both free throws to seal it.

Gottlieb said she was hoping for a five-second call on the last Washington possession and thought Forbes poked the ball from behind Schwartz.

Schwartz scored 12 of her 21 points in the first half. Maybe no points were bigger than her three-pointer late in the fourth quarter that gave Washington a 54-48 lead. Daniels finished with 12 points and a season-high 13 rebounds.

“Just proud of our fight today,” Washington coach Tina Langley said. “I thought we did a good job of team defense. A lot of different players stepping up at different times on the defensive end. Offensive execution, we’re continuing to grow in that. Thought we made some big steps.”

It was all Washington early. The Huskies had the lead for all but 1:10 in the first half and led by as many as 13 in the second quarter. The Huskies outscored USC 19-10 in the second period to build a 34-23 halftime lead. Watkins scored the final two baskets of the second quarter for USC, including a layup just before the halftime buzzer.

“I thought there was no adjustment I could make in the game plan,” Gottlieb said of her halftime speech. “There were curse words. There was emotion. We had to have a different level of want and intensity. I thought we were getting cooked individually. I thought we were settling on offense. We weren’t good on anything. It was a matter of trying to change that energy. I’m not taking anything away from Washington. They’re a really good team who does what they do very well.”

The Huskies played their second consecutive game without starter Jayda Noble, who didn’t make the trip to Los Angeles for an undisclosed reason.

“We just played four quarters. At UCLA (in a loss), we only played three quarters,” Schwartz said. “I think we played it all and played the scout right. It’s an amazing feeling. It’s such a great conference. To have this win after the UCLA game is a great win.”