By John Marshal AP Basketball Author
Tucson, Ariz.-Kayla Padila tied a 3-pointer in the concluding second of the regulation and made another major 3-pointer in the second overtime, with the seventh ranked USC women’s basketball team in a 95-93 win over Arizona on Thursday night.
The USC (22–5, in total, 12–5 PAC-12) blew Wildcats (16–13, 8-9) less than a month, but used a big run to take a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Star freshman sensation Juju Watkins fought Trojans despite taking out, scoring five points in the last 16 seconds. Catilin Davis hit a jumper after an aggressive rebound and Padila tied two more aggressive boards with 7.6 seconds.
Neither the team can take control until Padila hit a corner 3-pointer to keep the USC ahead 92-89 in the second overtime. Helena Puyo made two free throw with 6.3 seconds to pull the wildcats within 94–93 and Reh Marshal made one of the two free throw.
Arizona’s Zaida Williams kept a good watch on Bajer, but his 3-point attempt closed from behind the rim.
Marshall led the USC with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Watkins left in regulation under two minutes.
Pueo had 21 points and Skyler Jones added 19 points to lead Arizona.
The USC made 11 3-pointers in the first meeting of the teams, winning 81-64 at the Galen Center earlier this month.
The Erizona McCale Center had a separate team in its last PAC -12 game against the USC, which was associated with domestic crowd and their first sweep of PAC -12’s Bay Area Schools since 2001.
Feeding the energy, Wildcats tilted the USC quickly and took a 33-31 lead in halftime.
Big picture
USC: Trojan struggled to find an aggressive rhythm against Arizona for a long time and won a gut with his star freshman for a long time.
Arizona: Wildcats appeared in position in a top -10 team a week to draw their second win. Arizona faded late in regulation to allow the USC to tie it and could not make key plays under the stretch in the second overtime.
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The USC plays in Arizona state at 11 am on Saturday.