LOS ANGELES — Littleton’s destiny scored 18 points and had six assists as Southern California won Sunday’s show-defining win with a 55-46 uncomfortable of the number 2 Stanford.
Okako Adika scored 11 points and 11 bounces, while Taylor Bigby and Kayla Williams each added nine points as the Trojans set up their defense and held out late to end a 14-game losing streak against Cardinal, who won 51 straight games against underrated opponents.
This was USC’s first win over Stanford since the 2014 Pac-12 tournament.
USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said: “I just think we got really into the business this weekend, that’s the way of the century. “Stanford is so good. They’re second in the country. I think we did the game plan, were extremely tough and played the whole game. I haven’t even looked at the stats, because who cares. , right? ?”
USC (13-4, 3-3 Pac-12) held Stanford by four points in the first quarter, its lowest level of any time this season. Team Trojan took an 11-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter before ending the victory, eight days after a heartbreaking one-point loss to No. twelfth UCLA.
Cameron Brink scored 11 points and 14 rebounds for Stanford (17-2, 5-1), bringing their 12-game winning streak to a halt. The loss also ended Cardinal’s 39-game winning streak before the Pac-12 competition.
Haley Jones had 12 rebounds for Stanford but was held to an 8-point draw after entering the competition with 13.3 per game.
“It’s not just the turns, it’s the bad shots,” said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. “I don’t know that we could have done anything worse. This has to be the lowest level in terms of offensive execution, lack of refinement. They hit the free throw line 26 times. Even with all that bad, it’s a six-point game with three, four minutes left.”
Stanford held USC to a 27.3% draw with shots from the field, but the Trojans made the difference by taking 8/19 from 3-pointers and taking 17 of 26 free throws. Stanford is 4/21 from distance and 8/10 from the foul line.
USC got the job done early with a choking defense that forced six turns in the first quarter and held Stanford 2/10 for the first 10 minutes while leading 11-4.
Stanford rallied to equalize the game at 19-19 with 1:09 remaining in the first half before USC burst five points to give the Trojans a 24-19 lead after halftime.
USC issued a statement to close the third quarter. Clarice Akunwafo blocked Lauren bet‘ fires when there are three seconds left in the interval. Williams then used the time to get into the forecourt and knock a 24-foot shot from the whistle to a 43-33 advantage, USC’s biggest score of the game up to that point.
“[Akunwafo] showed up today, and she got that key block. I will remember it forever,” said Littleton, a South Carolina transfer during her first season at USC. “It was a momentum swing, and we went down and got a 3. That’s because [Akunwafo].”
USC also roughly kept Stanford in single digits in the fourth quarter, allowing 13, with four of those coming in the final seconds. The only time Stanford has gone a single-digit lead in a quarter of this season was a fourth-round seven-point performance in the only other loss, to South Carolina on Nov. 20.
VanDerveer said: “We didn’t shoot really well in the last few games. “But we have to be more gritty. I just feel we have to become a more competitive, more aggressive, more gritty team. Obviously, some shots didn’t work out, but maybe those were the ones. Shot better.Our goal rate on the field [30.9%] very bad, and theirs is not much better.”
