Since these early games aren't remotely competitive and we're still in the midst of football, we're not doing full game coverage yet, but we absolutely will when the matchups get more legitimate.
Here's the press release from USC's 124-39 win over CSUN last night, though:
LOS ANGELES — USC women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb achieved her 300th career win in tonight’s 124-39 victory over CSUN at Galen Center. USC’s lead never wavered, as points from all 13 Trojans who checked into the game filled up the stat sheet in a program record-setting 124-point offensive outing. USC is now 3-0 overall, and CSUN moves to 2-1 overall.
In the first 20 minutes of action, USC shot 55.6 percent to outperform CSUN’s 28.6 percent, as the Trojans held a 60-13 lead at halftime. The Trojans kept up their scoring pace, finishing out shooting a strong 60.8 percent from the floor and 47.2 from 3-point range, knocking down a program-record of 17 total threes. CSUN ended the game with a 26.1 shooting-percentage overall.
JuJu Watkins led USC in scoring with 21 total points and a career-high nine assists. She was joined in double figures tonight by Kiki Iriafen (15 points), Kayleigh Heckel (14), Talia von Oelhoffen (13), Avery Howell (11) and Kennedy Smith (10). Senior Rayah Marshall led USC on the boards with nine rebounds, while USC outrebounded CSUN 40-26. On the defensive end, USC nabbed 28 steals while forcing 43 turnovers out of the Matadors.
USC opened up the game with a trio of 3-pointers, sparked by Kennedy Smith’s trey and then boosted with back-to-back threes from Talia von Oelhoffen to craft a 9-0 lead. JuJu Watkins, Rayah Marshall and Kiki Iriafen stepped in next and carried USC off on a 7-0 rally next to make it 16-2 before CSUN got its second bucket to go with 3:10 on the clock. USC responded with freshman-fueled push in the final two minutes, with Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel getting in on the 3-point party to help USC lead it 30-6 at the end of the first frame. Malia Samuels kicked off the second quarter with an assist to Heckel and then a 3-pointer of her own to become USC’s eighth scorer barely 11 minutes into the game. USC kept chugging along, generating 28 unanswered points to expand the Trojan advantage to 58-6 on a three-point play from Watkins with 1:53 on the clock. That made it a grand total of a 37-0 scoring run by the Trojans, spanning from the close of the first quarter while the USC defense rendered CSUN scoreless for almost 10 full minutes of play. The Matadors broke through later in the second, though, and it was a 60-13 USC lead for halftime.
USC’s momentum kept rolling to open the second half, with Kiki Iriafen showing her range with two 3-pointers to help the Trojans along on a 16-0 start to the third. A three-point play from Watkins made it 76-13 USC before CSUN scored with 5:05 on the clock. Watkins worked her way across the 20-point line, freshman Vivian Iwuchukwu tallied her first bucket as a Trojan to net a 97-18 lead in the final minute of the third. In the fourth, USC’s Aaliyah Gayles and freshman Brooklyn Shamblin scored their first baskets of the season to carry USC into the 100-point zone, with Gayles’ score making it 101-23 before Shamblin got it to 103-23 with her first score as a Trojan at 8:20. Shamblin would strike with 2:00 to go to tie USC’s program record for most points scored in a game,. In the final minute, fellow freshman Avery Howell knocked down a three to lift USC to a new scoring record with 124 points on the night.
NEXT:
Next up for the USC women in its home stretch is a Friday (Nov. 15) meeting with Santa Clara at 12 p.m. at Galen Center.
NOTABLE:
- USC’s 124 points scored tonight is the most points in a game in program history. (previous record: 121 vs. Southern Methodist on 3/1/86)
- The 85-point win is USC’s largest margin of victory in history. The previous record was 75 points vs. UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 27, 1981.
- USC’s 124 points is the second most in Big Ten history, behind Purdue’s 129 points vs. Kent State on 12/8/1990.
- HC Lindsay Gottlieb earned her 300th career victory as a head coach tonight.
- For the second straight game, USC had six players score in double digits
- All 13 players that checked into the game scored tonight.
- USC’s 17 made 3-pointers is a new program record. The previous record was 16 vs. Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 18, 2023.
- USC’s 28 steals marks the third most in a game in program history and the most since Dec. 13, 1980 vs. California (30).
- The Trojans forced 43 turnovers out of CSUN — the second most in school history in a game. (Program record is 46, committed by Arizona on Jan. 16, 1981)
- This was the first time USC has scored 100 or more points since 2016.
- USC outscored CSUN 30-6 in the first quarter tonight and has outscored its last two opponents (Cal Poly on Nov. 9) by a combined 70-12 in the first quarter.
- USC’s 60 points in the first half marks the most points scored during the first half since Dec. 3, 2016 against Sacramento State (60-49).
- USC held CSUN to 13 points in the first half, the lowest amount of points an opponent has held since Dec. 21, 2019 against Long Beach State (29-12).
- GS Talia von Oelhoffen’s 13 points marked her highest point total as a Trojan.
- FR Kennedy Smith set her career high with five steals with USC.
- With two 3-pointers made tonight, GS Kiki Iriafen tied her career high.
- With nine assists, SO JuJu Watkins set a new career high.
- Watkins’ six steals tied her career high.
- FR Vivian Iwuchukwu made her first career field goal.
- FR Brooklyn Shamblin recorded her first career 3-pointer and set a new career best with seven points on the night. These are her first career points as a Trojan.
- RS SO Aaliyah Gayles set career highs tonight in points (five), steals (four) and assists (three).
- With this win, the Trojans are now 20-10 all-time against CSUN.
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