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JuJu Watkins, No. 10 USC women rout Arizona State for 3rd straight win

In her first home game since scoring a career-high 51 points against Stanford, the freshman scores 25 of her 31 points over the final two quarters and the Trojans roll to an 81-63 victory

USC freshman guard JuJu Watkins, shown talking with Coach Lindsay Gottlieb during a game last month, scored 25 of her 31 points over the final two quarters to lead the Trojans to an 81-63 victory over Arizona State on Friday night at the Galen Center. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
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By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES — JuJu Watkins scored 25 of her 31 points over the final two quarters and the 10th-ranked USC women’s basketball team routed Arizona State, 81-63, on Friday night at the Galen Center.

Playing her first home game since scoring a career-high 51 points in an upset of Stanford last week, Watkins started slowly. She had just six points on 3-of-12 shooting at halftime, including two airballs in the first quarter.

She also finished with seven rebounds, five assists and went 8 for 9 from the free-throw line as the Trojans (17-4 overall, 7-4 Pac-12) won their third in a row.

ASU closed to within 38-31 on Trayanna Crisp’s 3-pointer to open the third.

But the Trojans answered, going on a 12-2 run to extend their lead to 50-33. Watkins scored six and McKenzie Forbes had four, including a steal and layup. Forbes finished with 18 points.

Watkins scored USC’s final five points of the third for a 59-45 lead in front of “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis. She put on a show, battling in the paint for rebounds and snaking through defenders to score.

Watkins and Forbes combined to score the Trojans’ first 13 points of the fourth for a 72-50 lead. USC stretched its lead to 81-56 on Watkins’ layup before she sat down for good after playing 37 minutes.

The Sun Devils (10-13, 2-9) have dropped nine of 11 and remain mired in last place in the league. They were led by Jalyn Brown with 24 points. Crisp added 17. Crisp, Jaddan Simmons and Journey Thompson each had four fouls as ASU had just seven players available.

The Trojans led by 19 in the second quarter before they were outscored 14-5 over the final minutes to go into halftime leading 38-28.

BIG PICTURE

Arizona State: The Sun Devils couldn’t keep up with the bigger Trojans and got outscored 46-30 in the paint.

USC: The Trojans’ defense forced 13 turnovers, had six blocked shots and outrebounded ASU 42-28, led by Rayah Marshall with 16 boards.

UP NEXT

USC hosts Arizona on Monday at 6 p.m.

More to come on this story.

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