The energy in Galen Center was electric Sunday afternoon. 3,416 fans gathered to watch the USC women’s basketball team coming off of its most recent win against Washington State Friday. But the crowd’s energy wasn’t enough to sustain the Trojans (14-4, 4-4 Pac-12), who fell short to the Washington Huskies (13-6, 3-5) with a final score of 62-59, marking the team’s first home loss of the season.

Soon after tip-off, graduate guard McKenzie Forbes sank a three-pointer to put the Trojans up 3-0 for their first and only lead of the game.

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USC had a shaky start. The Huskies got most of their points from uncontested midrange shots, with a shooting percentage of 61.5% in the second quarter — almost a 20% increase from their season’s average of 43.1%.

At the end of the first half, the Huskies were up 34-23. Part of USC’s deficit came from a stagnant offense, simply expecting the players with ball possession to create opportunities for themselves. Conversely, the UW offense was a team effort, including more off-ball movement.

Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb noted the Trojan’s complacency in the postgame conference. 

“I thought that we came out here and said, ‘Oh, we’re wearing USC on our jerseys, and therefore we’re going to win.’ And you can’t win like that,” Gottlieb said.

The Huskies were defensively relentless, particularly with freshman guard and No. 2 national-leading scorer JuJu Watkins, not hesitating to double-team her off of a screen or send generous help when she made a move past her defender. The defense held her to a total of 19 points, under her average of 26.3 points per game.

USC came out of halftime with a bit more strength. Graduate guard Kayla Padilla hit back-to-back three-pointers. Along with a couple of forced turnovers and redshirt sophomore guard Taylor Bigby’s and-one, the Trojans shrunk the difference to five points halfway into the third quarter. 

At the end of the third quarter, the Trojans were only trailing by two. Even so, the team devoted the whole quarter to regaining control of the game’s pace. 

“We were trying to dig out of this hole that we dug ourselves in the first half,” Padilla said. 

Padilla had a fantastic shooting game with a season-high of 20 points. She raked in a season-high of six threes and an impressive 3-point percentage of 66.67%. Her shots came at crucial moments in the game to keep USC competitive and garner momentum during the home stretch.

The last 30 seconds of the game moved like honey, as the Trojans sought to catch up to the Huskies. Together, Padilla and Watkins scored 9 points to close the margin to 59-60. Every fan was on the edge of their seat in anticipation to see how the game would unfold. 

In the final second, the referees called a foul against the Trojans, deflating all hopes in the arena for a comeback. Fans and players were outraged, calling for a play review. 

“It seemed like Kenzie poked the ball from behind,” Gottlieb said. “I can’t tell you whether that [call] was a little early and anticipatory or whether she got her. I haven’t seen it.”

The foul sent the Huskies to the free-throw line, giving them two bonus shots to secure the lead and the game.

The Trojans look to pick themselves back up in preparation for a tough road game ahead against No. 4 Stanford (19-2, 8-1) Friday at 7 p.m.