Arizona vs No. 7 USC | Pac-12 | 2.29.24

TUCSON, ARIZ. — February 29th, 2024

No. 7 USC trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter and yet pressed on to pull out a wild 95-93 double-overtime win at Arizona tonight. Kayla Padilla hit a 3-pointer to level it late in regulation, and USC would make its winning move in the second OT to secure its 22nd win of the season. USC is now 22-5 overall and 12-5 in Pac-12 play with one game to go in the regular season. Arizona is now 16-13, 8-9.

The lead traded hands eight times and tied up another eight times in the first half as both teams battled to get in a groove. USC shot 40 percent from the floor in the first half and had made one 3-pointer to trail Arizona's 42.3 percent effort with a pair of threes landed and a 9-of-10 stand from the stripe as the Wildcats led it 33-31 at halftime. USC had gone 6-of-7 from the free-throw line and was up on the boards 18-13 by the break. As the game got wilder, both teams continued to hit big shots. After 50 minutes of action, USC had shot 42.9 percent overall with seven 3-pointers and winning the battle of the boards 38-36. Arizona was hotter in finishing out at 45.6 percent overall, but it was the Trojans with the win on the board at the final buzzer thanks to their gutsy final push.

Rayah Marshall led the Trojans with her 29th career double-double, providing a game-high 26 points along with 11 rebounds for USC. JuJu Watkins, who fouled out just before the end of regulation, wrapped up with 20 points, with Kaitlyn Davis scoring a season-high 16 points and Kayla Padilla adding 15 with five 3-pointers landed. Arizona had five players finish in double digits: Helena Pueyo (21 points), Skylar Jones (19), Isis Bet (16), Jada Williams (14) and Courtney Blakely (11).

In a slow start, USC would get a bucket and a pair of free throws from JuJu Watkins to edge the Trojans ahead 6-4 before the 5-minute mark of the first. The Wildcats worked out ahead 11-7, only to see USC's Kayla Williams help spark a late push for the Trojans. She and Rayah Marshall would manufacture a 9-3 USC run to the end of the first, with five straight USC points pulling the Trojans on top 16-14 after 10 minutes of action. USC landed its first 3-pointer of the night to counter a 4-0 Arizona run, with Kayla Padilla punching one in from the top to make it a 25-23 USC lead at 5:10. The Wildcats bit back with back-to-back buckets in the paint to creep ahead 27-25 a minute later. The score would snarl up four times in the next four minutes, with Marshall delivering an equalizer with 1:10 to go. Arizona would benefit from a late trip to the free-throw line, however, netting two more to grip a 33-31 lead at halftime.

Watkins would bury her first 3-pointers in the third, but Arizona made a 6-0 run in between those Trojan buckets. The Wildcats followed Watkins' trey with one of their own, then converted on a three-point play, and the hosts were up 53-44 at 1:45. Watkins had the last word of the third with a bucket that made it a 53-46 margin, but she'd get tagged with her fourth foul of the game before the close of that frame. Arizona would work into a double-digit lead with help from some strikes from 3-point range, and USC was down 61-51 with 7:45 on the clock. The Trojans still wouldn't back down.

USC stared down a nine-point deficit with 3:10 left in regulation, scoring six straight points to get within three with a minute on the clock. Watkins was dealt her fifth foul with 1:41 to go, but USC was undeterred. Arizona would hit only free throws for the last three minutes while USC's Kaitlyn Davis hit big buckets down low to get USC within two. She'd rebound her own free-throw miss to breathe life into the Trojans' final possession of regulation, and Kayla Padilla hit the equalizer with a baseline three that knotted it at 71-71 with under eight seconds left.

The first OT saw USC take its first lead since the midpoint of the third, and another Padilla three had USC up 82-80 with 1:35 on the clock. Again the Wildcats found a big shot, leveling it a minute later on a 3-pointer, then later knotting it up at 85-85 with a successful trip to the free-throw line with 20 seconds left. Still even at that buzzer, the second OT was soon underway. Arizona got out ahead 89-87 before USC dug deep again. Forbes was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line around a fifth 3-pointer from Padilla, and USC was up 94-89 with 2:05 left. Only free throws would fall the rest of the way, and with Arizona one back with 6 ticks to go, Marshall hit the back end of her trip to the line with four seconds remaining. Arizona's last gasp was off the mark, and USC had a wild 95-93 OT win in the books.

NEXT:
USC now heads to Tempe to set up for its final regular-season game of the season, taking on Arizona State at 11 a.m. PT on Saturday (March 2).