Women of Troy fall to Huskies at home

Double trouble · Senior forward Cassie Harberts’ double-double (22 points, 11 rebounds) wasn’t enough to power the Women of Troy over the Huskies on Sunday. The loss is USC’s third in a row. – Benjamin Dunn | Daily Trojan

The USC women’s basketball team could not overcome an early deficit and lost its third straight Pac-12 game on Saturday, falling 63-55 to the Washington Huskies. The Women of Troy (14-9, 7-4 Pac-12) started their conference slate with a 7-1 record.

“We put together a game plan for the opponent and we just let the chips fall where they may,” said head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke.

Much to the dismay of the Women of Troy, the chips did not fall in their favor yesterday. The squad seemed outmatched from the start, falling behind 10-0 to begin the game. Washington, on the other hand, shot a lights-out 41 percent from the field in the opening half. Led by guard Jazmine Davis, the Huskies would go on to nail eight three-pointers through the course of the contest.

A dismal shooting performance doomed USC in the first half, as their first basket did not come until nearly four minutes into the game. That score came from senior forward Cassie Harberts, who once again led her team in scoring and rebounding. Harberts notched her second straight double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Harberts is averaging 16.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, both team-highs.

Junior guard Ariya Crook also attempted to spark her team on the defensive side of the ball, recording several clutch steals in the first half. Crook, who is second on the team with an average of 16.0 points per game, would also reach double digits with 13 points.

Even with these strong performances, the Huskies would hold USC to just 17 points in the first half.

In the second half, USC looked like a different team, cutting a 14-point deficit to seven just 10 minutes into the half. The Women of Troy continued to chip away for the remainder of the game, even cutting Washington’s lead to just two with under a minute and a half to play. Senior forward Desireé Bradley provided two key threes down the stretch to boost the Women of Troy’s chances, while Harberts and Crook remained solid.

Unfortunately the team would not get an opportunity to tie the game, and foul shots allowed the Huskies to edge out a somewhat comfortable win.

Davis led all scorers with 25 points. Huskies’ guard Kelsey Plum added 14, and her teammate Aminah Williams led the team with 14 rebounds.

This week presents an opportunity for the Women of Troy to complete the season sweep of crosstown rival UCLA. The two teams face off in a 3 p.m. battle at the Galen Center on Saturday.

USC will then travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Oregon schools beginning Feb. 14.