Rutgers Women’s Basketball Blown Out At USC, 71-39

After a disappointing three-game homestand, Rutgers women’s basketball headed west to take on the USC Trojans in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. It was a strong start for the Scarlet Knights, who answered early buckets from the Trojans by building an 11-5 lead late in the quarter despite Nene Ndiaye being unavailable.

Even with the Trojans punching back, RU led 15-12 at the end of the first quarter, with Imani Lester scoring four late points for the Knights. Zachara Perkins also had four, while Rutgers also saw early baskets from Lauryn Swann and Kaylah Ivey. USC had six turnovers in the first quarter, as the Knights took advantage with six points.

The Trojans began the second quarter with a three-pointer from Malia Samuels that tied the game at 15. After a layup from Kara Dunn, Ivey connected on her second three-pointer of the game to give Rutgers an 18-17 lead. Rutgers tied the game at 19 as Lester got to work in the post, splitting her free throws, but Dunn drew a foul and connected on both to give the Trojans the two-point edge.

USC pushed the pace, and Davidson made an excellent eurostep around Ivey, getting fouled by Swann and completing the three-point play to put the Trojans up 24-19 after the five-minute mark of the quarter. A block from Davidson led to a layup from Laura Williams to give USC a seven-point lead, and Williams pushed the lead to 29-19 with a free-throw jumper off of a steal from Smith. Faith Blackstone helped Rutgers close the deficit to six at halftime with a pair of made free throws and a layup in the final minute of the second quarter.

The Trojans came out of the locker room swinging despite an early Lester Layup to briefly close the lead to four points. A three from Dunn and a layup from Davidson quickly brought the USC lead back to nine, although a nice inside pass from Antonia Bates found Blackstone open under the rim to bring Rutgers back within seven.

USC pushed its lead back to double digits with a three from Kennedy Smith off an inbounds pass from Davidson, before Smith assisted a Dunn layup to give the Trojans a 39-27 lead inside six minutes to play in the third quarter. A jumper from Swann was answered by a turnaround jumper from Dunn, while Davidson and Smith pushed the Southern Cal lead to 45-29 following a Scarlet Knights timeout. USC led 52-31 after three quarters.

The fourth quarter was all Trojans, as a layup from Dayana Mendez and an onslaught from Davidson and Dunn gave USC a 10-0 run and pushed their lead to 62-31 before Rutgers scored in the fourth quarter. Perkins scored six straight points for the Knights, including a three-pointer, but the Trojans still led by 25 as they cruised to a 71-39 victory over Rutgers.

After a 15-12 first-quarter lead, the Scarlet Knights went quiet for large stretches of the final three quarters, scoring just eight points each. USC scored 17, 23, and 19 points, as they nearly doubled Rutgers on the scoreboard by the final whistle. The Knights had another abysmal shooting performance, going just 24% from the field and 16% from deep as they made just 14 of 58 shots and 3 of 19 from long range. They were also outrebounded 57-32 and 25-11 on the offensive glass.

Rutgers was led by Zachara Perkins’ 12 points, while Imani Lester was the only other Knight in double figures with 11. The only other three scorers were Faith Blackstone with six, Lauryn Swann with four, and Kaylah Ivey with six points. Meanwhile, USC was led by 18 points from Kara Dunn, 16 from Jazzy Davidson, and 11 from Kennedy Smith, in addition to sizeable contributions from the other starters and from their bench players.

The schedule does not get any easier for Rutgers, as they will likely face their toughest test of the season against #2 UCLA on Wednesday evening. The Bruins are led by Lauryn Betts, who averages 16.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, and the team scores an average of 86.8 points per game, having just defeated #8 Iowa 88-65. Coverage for that game will start at 10 PM Eastern on Big Ten Plus.

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