USC women’s basketball traveled to the Midwest with all of the momentum in the world, winning 15 straight.
But just three days after an impressive 13-point win, the Trojans fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes 76-69 on Sunday in front of a sold-out crowd for Caitlin Clark’s jersey retirement.
At the start of the game, the teams were trading turnovers with each other. Then, Iowa got into a groove and dominated USC.
The main issue for the Trojans from the start was their giveaways, and the Hawkeyes were continually capitalizing off of those mistakes. In the first quarter alone, USC had seven turnovers, which Iowa converted into 11 points.
USC went 1-for-14 from the field in the first quarter, only getting on the board after sophomore guard JuJu Watkins hit a 3-pointer in the last 26 seconds of the quarter.
“That’s not going to win a lot of games,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said about the missed shots in the postgame press conference.
Going into the second quarter, USC was down 18-4.
The Trojans made a comeback, as they often do, facilitating their offense through Watkins.
The USC star led the charge with 15 points, seven of which came from free throws.
Iowa went through multiple scoring droughts, allowing USC to catch up after the Trojans outscored the Hawkeyes 25-10 in the second frame.
Watkins finished the half by stealing the ball, then scoring a last minute layup, putting the Trojans ahead for the first time all game at 29-28.
Throughout the third quarter it was still neck and neck. Hawkeyes senior guard Lucy Olsen and junior forward Hannah Stuelke took over for Iowa, combining for 14 out of Iowa’s 23 points in the third.
Watkins wasn’t as hot in the third quarter, but she had help from freshman guard Avery Howell and graduate forward Kiki Iriafen. The three of them had 15 of the Trojans’ 21 points in the frame.
The third period ended with Olsen hitting a midrange jumper, putting the Hawkeyes up 51-50.
That should have been foreshadowing for the rest of the game, because Olsen was electric.
She had 15 points by herself in the last quarter and finished with 28 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
As time wound down, the crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena got even louder.
“There’s no doubt that the atmosphere was a factor today,” Gottlieb said. “That’s something we welcome.”
After Stuelke got into foul trouble, Olsen had to step up and she did by having an incredible fourth quarter.
Iowa senior forward Addison O’Grady stepped up as well, scoring eight points in the last frame.
The Hawkeyes played great defense all night and smothered Watkins in the final quarter, preventing her from shooting. It worked: she had four points and two turnovers in the fourth.
Iriafen was in foul trouble towards the end and was making sloppy mistakes and taking bad shots. She was second to Watkins in scoring with 13 points, but also had six turnovers.
“I think it was an off night for our whole team and I think that was a testament to the environment,” Watkins said.
With about five minutes left, Olsen stole the ball from Iriafen and made a layup to make it 67-60. From then on, Iowa continued to grow the lead and won by seven.
Watkins finished with 27 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The Hawkeyes exposed a lot of the Trojans’ problems that they’ll need to get fixed as they get closer to the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
USC stays on the road and can hopefully bounce back against Wisconsin at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.