Huskies Lose Second-Straight OT Game, 81-78 at USC

Sunday, January 26

Los Angeles, CA

12:00 PM

University of Washington

10-9, 2-6Pac-12

USC

11-8, 3-5Pac-12

OT 1

Washington

Southern California

January 26, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

LOS ANGELES --- For the second-straight game, Washington fought in an overtime road game, but for the second-straight game, the Huskies came up on the wrong side in the end, falling 81-78 at USC on Sunday afternoon at the Galen Center.

Amber Melgoza had a team-high 17 points for the Huskies (10-9, 2-6 Pac-12), adding six rebounds, six assists and two blocks in the contest. She finished the game with 1,494 career points, needing six more to become just the 14th Husky to reach 1,500 career point.

Mai-Loni Henson and Haley Van Dyke each added 16 points with Van Dyke recording seven rebounds, five assists and five steals as well. Henson, who did much of her damage to get Washington going in the first half, was 4-of-8 from three-point range and added four rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Washington got off to a hot start against the Trojans (11-8, 3-5 Pac-12), scoring the first nine points and leading 9-4 after a low-scoring first quarter. Both teams picked up the pace in the second. Washington opened the quarter with a 10-2 run capped by a three-pointers from Missy Peterson and Ali Bamberger to stretch the lead to 19-6 at the 6:54 mark.

One minute later, USC would close the gap a bit with an 8-0 run, closing to within five at 22-17 with 4:40 left. But the Huskies would answer with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes as a Henson three would make it 31-19 at the 2:30 mark. The teams would trade buckets with the Huskies holding a 37-25 lead at halftime.

The teams went back and forth through the first five minutes with the Huskies leading 45-33 after Quay Miller hit a free throw at the 5:02 mark. But it was all USC for the next for minutes as the Trojans went on a 14-0 run over the next three minutes to take their first lead of the game at 47-45 with 2:01 left. Darcy Rees would snap the run with a key three-pointer from the corner and the Huskies would take a 48-47 lead to the third.

Melgoza opened the scoring with a tough runner to extend the lead and the Huskies would use a quick 7-0 run capped by a T.T. Watkins three-pointer to take a 59-53 lead with 6:12 left. Another three by Van Dyke pout Washington up 64-58 with 4:13 to go, but the Huskies would go quiet over the next three minutes as USC scored six-straight to tie the score with 1:58 to play. Melgoza hit a pair of free throws with 1:29 left to put Washington back on top but USC hit on the other end as the shot clock expired to again tie the score. Neither team was able to score over the final 1:10 of regulation as they headed to overtime tied at 64-64.

In the extra period, the Huskies trailed 70-67 with 3:19 left, but took back the lead with some impressive defense. Melgoza made a fastbreak layup to make it a one-point game, then the Huskies stole the inbounds pass and Henson hit a layup to put the Huskies back up at the 2:49 mark. Again, Washington bothered the inbounds pass and Melgoza was fouled. She went to the line and hit one of two give the Huskies a 72-70 lead with 2:40 to go.

USC would get fouled on the other end and hit one of two, but got an offensive rebound after the second miss and got a layup with 2:15 left to go back up 73-72. After a miss by the Huskies, the Trojans worked the clock and took control for good hitting a three-pointer to beat the shot clock to make it 76-72 with 1:19 left.

Washington had one last chance, down three with seven seconds to go. However, the play designed to get a three-point attempt ended up with the ball under the basket where Van Dyke put it in. The Huskies were able to tie up the inbounds pass, but the arrow went to the Trojans, who would hit a pair of free throws to ice the game.

The Huskies return home this week, hosting No. 6 Stanford on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in Alaska Airlines Arena.