The Huskies erased an 18-point deficit in the second half and had a chance to tie it in the final seconds, but it wasn’t enough.
UConn women’s basketball erased an 18-point deficit and had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds but ultimately came up short in a 72-70 loss to the No. 7 USC Trojans on Saturday night at the XL Center.
With USC leading by three in the final seconds, Sarah Strong got fouled on a 3-point attempt and had a chance to tie the game at the line. The freshman made the first but missed the next two. Still, the Huskies got the rebound and threw it out to the perimeter to Strong but her heave from three wasn’t close, which sealed the defeat.
Strong and Paige Bueckers both had 22 points, out-scoring the Trojans’ 1-2 punch of JuJu Watkins (25 points) and Kiki Iriafen (16 points).
UConn started on in a 9-0 hole and played from behind for the entire first half. The Huskies cut it down to a one-point game in the opening quarter but eventually let it slip as far as 14 points. They couldn’t get anything going on offense, shooting 11-31 from the field and 2-9 from three.
Meanwhile, UConn had no answer for Watkins down the other end. She put up 15 points in the first 20 minutes — more than half the Huskies’ total. As a result, USC went into the locker room with a 42-29 advantage.
In the third quarter, UConn finally made its run. Sparked by a press defense that gave the Trojans fits and forced seven turnovers in the period, the Huskies ripped off a 10-0 run to pull back within single-digits.
They kept it going into the fourth. After trading baskets to start the quarter, UConn scored seven of nine points, capped by a jumper from Bueckers that narrowed the deficit to just one. With the XL Center crowd roaring, USC took a timeout.
On the ensuing possession, the Huskies forced a steal then Strong drove to the rim to give the hosts their first lead of the day, 65-64, with 4:30 remaining. Watkins immediately answered with an old-fashioned 3-point play down to put the Trojans back ahead, then Bueckers tied it a few plays later.
Watkins had a chance to give USC a two-possession lead with 31.1 seconds left when she went to the free throw line but she made just one of two and gave UConn the ball back trailing by just three.
Instead of going for the game-tying shot, the Huskies got a quick layup from Strong with 27.1 remaining to make it 70-69. Watkins hit a pair of free throws to extend the Trojans’ advantage back to three, which set up the final possession that resulted in the missed free throws from Strong.
The loss drops UConn to 10-2 on the season and 0-2 in top-10 matchups. Next, the Huskies will be off through Christmas before returning to action on Dec. 29 against Providence.