espnW's No. 1 ranked freshman JuJu Watkins scores a career-high 35 points as No. 10 USC picks up a 93-42 win over Le Moyne.
LOS ANGELES — \u2014 JuJu Watkins hasn’t made many mistakes in the first three games of her college career.
Knowing where to wait on the court after being the first player introduced was one of them. Watkins headed to the sideline after her name was called Monday night before being urged to go stand near the top of the key to greet her fellow Southern California starters.
\u201cThere\u2019s not really any big flaws in her game,\u201d USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said before joking, “A freshman that doesn’t know where to go after her name is announced.\u201d
Watkins scored 35 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and the No. 10 Trojans (3-0) routed Le Moyne 93-42.
\u201cIt was a zone pretty much the whole game so it was easy to get off threes,\u201d said Watkins, who had nine rebounds and six steals.
Watkins<\/a> has totaled 83 points in her first three college games, including 32 in the Trojans\u2019 season-opening victory<\/a> over then-No. 7 Ohio State last week. She was named Pac-12 freshman of the week for her performances.
\u201cI didn’t really have that many expectations for myself, just to come in and contribute as much as I can to the team,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cBut it’s been a great week.\u201d
Watkins scored 13 of the Trojans’ first 15 points in the fourth and then sat down for good. They led 91-32, allowing Gottlieb to go to her bench. Aaliyah Gayles didn’t score in her second straight game, her first collegiate action since recovering after being shot 18 times at a house party in Las Vegas in 2022.
Lytoya Baker scored 14 points to lead the Dolphins (0-4). They committed 22 turnovers, got outrebounded 41-27 and had just seven assists to 24 for USC.
\u201cWe appreciate Le Moyne coming out here. They\u2019re transitioning to D-I this year,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cWe knew we probably had more talent and more size so I wanted to really see how we came out in terms of valuing possessions, valuing our discipline and things we\u2019re working on. That\u2019s what I was looking for more than anything on the box score.\u201d
BIG PICTURE
Le Moyne: The Dolphins are playing 11 of their first 12 games on the road with some tough travel and multiple time zone changes. They were in Colorado for their first two games, went home to New York and then flew to California, all in the span of eight days. But after leaving Los Angeles, they’ll play the rest of the season in the East.
USC: Thanks to a season-opening upset of then-No. 7 Ohio State, the Trojans jumped 11 spots<\/a> to No. 10 in Monday’s AP Top 25 poll, their highest ranking since finishing the season seventh in 1993-94. \u201cPolls at this time of year are representative of a small snapshot,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cWe did our job the first week. We\u2019re trying to be higher than that at the end of the season.\u201d
UP NEXT
Le Moyne: Visits Massachusetts on Saturday.
USC: Plays Seton Hall on Nov. 20 in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship in the Bahamas.
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AP women\u2019s college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/womens-college-basketball<\/a><\/p>\n

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