Women’s basketball looks ahead to Cal and Stanford


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Freshman guard Endyia Rogers’ play has earned her significant praise in the midst of underwhelming season. (James Wolfe | Daily Trojan)

The USC women’s basketball team will head to Northern California to take on the Cal Golden Bears and No. 6 Stanford Cardinal Friday and Sunday. The games will be the Trojans’ first meeting with each team this season and will provide an opportunity for the team to improve on its 3-7 Pac-12 record.

Last weekend’s road trip to Arizona resulted in a triple-overtime loss to No. 19 Arizona State and a 73-57 loss to No. 12 Arizona. While the two losses added to the blemishes on USC’s record, the battle with the Sun Devils proved that USC has the tenacity to stay competitive against elite competition. 

“I’m very proud of my kids and how they fought on the road,” USC head coach Mark Trakh said. “If the ball bounced a certain way, we would have won the game against Arizona State.” 

Despite the losses, freshman forward Alissa Pili garnered some positive attention for the team Monday when the Pac-12 recognized her as the conference’s Freshman of the Week. It was Pili’s second time receiving the honor. Her teammate, guard Endyia Rogers, also received the same award last week, making it the first year in program history the Trojans have had multiple Freshman of the Week honorees. 

Both Pili and Rogers have led USC’s offense all season. Pili nearly matched her season high in points by dropping 21 against Arizona. She leads the team with 14.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. 

“Them coming in as freshmen and having the impact that they are [having] is very rare, and to have two on the team is mind-blowing,” sophomore guard Desiree Caldwell said of Pili and Rogers. “I’m just excited to see how much better they’re going to get when they get older.”

USC will look to the two freshmen to continue their recent success against Cal Friday. The Golden Bears enter the game anxious to improve their conference record after securing their first Pac-12 win of the season Sunday.

Cal has already faced the conference’s toughest opponents in Stanford and No. 9 Oregon State and fared as poorly as one would expect. In light of these losses, USC will still have to keep Cal senior guard Jaelyn Brown and senior center CJ West in check. Brown leads Cal in scoring with 14.1 points per game while West has proven dominant on the glass, averaging 7.1 rebounds per game. 

Against Stanford, USC will face a team with a 20-2 record whose only losses are to Texas and No. 3 Oregon. Stanford’s roster is experienced, with six upperclassmen typically taking the court.

Expect Cardinal senior forward Nadia Fingall, who averages 5.4 rebounds, to be a big roadblock for the Trojans. Sophomore guard Lexie Hull also projects to give USC fits, as she carries an average of 13.5 points per game.

The Trojans will need to rebuild their momentum this weekend, as their schedule only gets tougher after the Bay Area road trip. After Stanford, USC will immediately face two more ranked opponents in Oregon State and Oregon.

If USC can play with the same tenacity seen against ASU and its earlier overtime thriller against No. 10 UCLA, the Trojans could be in for another competitive game, as they’ve proven their ability to take it to elite teams. What remains to be seen is if the Trojans can turn this competitiveness into their first road conference win of the season.

The Trojans will tip off against Cal Friday at 7 p.m. and against Stanford Sunday at noon.