The Guru’s NCAAW National Report: No. 7 Southern Cal Edges No. 4 UConn 72-70 as Watkins Scores 25; Colorado Upsets No. 14 West Virginia; USF Stuns No. 9 Duke

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The last big day and night before the last day overall before the holiday break on Saturday day and night featured plenty of fireworks and set off an almost an impatient wait until the season resumes next weekend with the conference wars set to begin or resume from the brief early tease because some leagues have grown too big to open play in January.

The best of the best was the hype that did not disappoint with No. 7 Southern Cal getting revenge at No. 4 Connecticut in Hartford by winning 72-70 to reverse last season’s Elite Eight loss that sent the Huskies on to the Final Four.

Sophomore JuJu Watkins, last season national freshman of the year, now in the mix with the runnerup Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame and Connecticut’s fifth-year superstar Paige Bueckers, scored 25 points as the Trojans soared to an 18-point lead, blew it, and then held on the rest of the way to emerge with the victory.

And they are not the only ones in the hunt, but this game is the focus that also featured UConn rookie Sarah Strong who like Bueckers scored 22 while adding 13 rebounds with five assists.

Both teams have lost to Notre Dame, now the only setback for USC (11-1), which is heading for the Big Ten wars along with its fellow PAC-12 refugee and local rival UCLA, while the loss becomes the second for Connecticut (10-2).

Down in the SEC, soon to get under way, sits No. 2 and defending national champion South Carolina, whose lone loss is to UCLA, No. 5 LSU, and No. 18 Tennessee, which seems undersold in its preseason picks under new coach Kim Caldwell.

By the way, Southern Cal also featured Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen, who scored 16, grabbed 11 boards, and dealt six assists.

Early in the third quarter, the ultimate winners were cruising with a 51-33 lead before the Huskies rallied and to tie the score at 67-67 with under two minutes left.

Watkins dished to Rayah Marshall to snap the deadlock with 1:21 left.

Connecticut missed on its next possession, Watkins got fouled and went to the line, making one of two for a 70-67 advantage with 31 seconds left.

Strong quickly made it a one-point game with a score and then Watkins got the points back on two free throws with 19.5 left and the lead now at 72-69.

The UConn rookie was then fouled shooting a three, putting her in position to tie it at the line but after making the first, the second didn’t drop, causing the third to be intentionally missed, the ball went back to the Huskies and was back in the hands of Strong, whose game-ending attempt did not match her last name, sending the Trojans back across America with an enjoyable coast-to-coast plane ride.

While USC will see three ranked teams in its next four Big Ten games, UConn goes into the Big East but down the road are two big dates with Tennessee and South Carolina.

Next Sunday, the Trojans greet Michigan while the Huskies welcome Providence, a competitive rival when UConn first rose to prominence four decades ago.

“I’m really, really proud of the team that came out of the locker room to play in the second half,” said Hall of Fame Huskies coach Geno Auriemma. “I’m kind of disappointed and not at all happy with the team that came out to start the game.

“So we gotta figure out what the difference is between the two teams… I thought the execution part in the first half was as bad as I’ve seen in a few years here at Connecticut. It’s not that we can’t do it, because we spent 20 minutes doing it. If you look at the stats, you really can’t pick anything apart.”

It’s the first win for the Trojans in the series, the last regular season meeting occurring in 2003.

Auriemma pointed to his team’s failure beyond the arc one game after it had shot a program record 20 from deep in beating Iowa State early in the week.

“In order for us to win, generally speaking, it’s when you make shots, and it’s also how many ways you have to score,” he explained and noted the size differential. “They could score inside on us today.”

But then he also noted, “It’s going to be hard to win (by not making more threes than the opposition, which shot better from distance than anticipated).”

As for the Trojans side, Watkins said, “It hit a little different knowing the history from last year and how they sent us home.”

Noted USC coach Lindsay Gottleib, who grew up in New England, “This is a really significant win because of the stature of UConn’s program and what Geno Auriemma has done for our sport,” she said. “For my entire high school career on, this is what basketball excellence was. This is what we saw, and it’s challenged all of us to want to be better, to find players who want to be better be that elite. And I don’t think that’s gone away.”

Last month, Auriemma broke the record held by the now-retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer for wins in the men’s or women’s collegiate game that he extends every time the Huskies are triumphant and reached 1,223 earlier in the week with the victory over Iowa State.

A sellout crowd of close to 16,000 watched the game.

“For me now to bring a team here, to know we could do it, and then to actually do it is incredibly meaningful,” Gottlieb said. “Really proud of the big win.”

More Upsets: American Athletic Conference favorite South Florida, which has played a challenging non-conference slate, finaly bagged a big one, beat No. 9 Duke 65-56 at home in Tampa as Sammie Puisis scored 23 points for the Bulls (7-6), nine in the final seven minutes after USF had held an early lead of 23 points on the Blue Devils (10-3).

L’or Mputu had 17 points and 11 boards for USF, while Vittoria Blasigh scored 10 as did Carla Brito.

Duke rookie Toby Fournier had 11 points and eight boards.

After 2005 arrives, the Blue Devils will play at Boston College on Jan. 2 in the ACC in Chestnut Hill, Mass., while USF hosts Charlotte in the same AAC that Temple is a member.

The Big 12 got under way and Colorado, one of four refugees from the PAC-12, returning to its previous home, No. 14 West Virginia 65-60 home in Boulder as Frida Formann scored four from deep, Jade Masogayo scored 18 and Lior Garzon, a former Villanova star, scored 12 of her 14 in the fourth quarter.

Colorado (10-2) trailed by 11 at the start of the period and then outscored the Mountaineers (10-2) 25-9 in the final period.

Both teams are off until New Year’s Day, West Virginia hosting UCF, while Colorado visits No. 12 TCU in Fort Worth, Texas.

Elsewhere, in the West Palm Beach tournament, No. 18 Tennessee stayed unbeaten with a 102-61 win over Tulsa; No. 17 Georgia Tech also stayed unbeaten at home in Atlanta beating No. 23 Nebraska 72-61 as freshman Dani Carnegie had 20 points, making four from deep, while Kara Dunn had 16 points and 14 boards.

Looking Ahead

It’s a relatively quiet Sunday until everything shuts down until next weekend.

No. 3 Notre Dame hosts Loyola of Maryland at noon, No. 6 Texas hosts Summit Conference favorite South Dakota State at 3; and No. 24 California at 9 p.m. hosts Temple in the title game of the Golden Bears’ Raising the B.A.R. Tourney at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.

That’s it until less than 24 hours after the Cal game concludes.