McKenzie Forbes scored 26 points and fifth-ranked Southern California led for all but a few early minutes in defeating No. 2 Stanford 74-61 in the Pac-12 Conference tournament championship game Sunday at Las Vegas.
Kayla Padilla had 13 points and Rayah Marshall added 10 points and 18 rebounds for Southern Cal (26-5), the tournament’s second seed, which won its only other Pac-12 tournament in 2014.
The Trojans won despite getting only nine points from freshman sensation JuJu Watkins. The Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, who had 33 points in a double-overtime semifinal victory against UCLA on Friday, shot 2-for-15 from the field, including 0-for-3 on 3-pointers. She also had six of their 12 turnovers.
Watkins had 51 points in a regular-season matchup at Stanford.
Cameron Brink recorded 19 points and 10 rebounds and Kiki Iriafen had 18 points for top-seeded Stanford (28-5), which was battered on the boards. Southern California collected 18 offensive rebounds and had an overall 48-28 edge.
It was the final Pac-12 women’s tournament in the current configuration as most league members will be in other conferences beginning in the summer.
Stanford was unable to increase its record tournament total, so it was stuck on 15 titles.
Forbes shot 11-for-21 from the field and drained four of the Trojans’ nine 3-point baskets.
The Trojans, who won the regular-season matchup in Stanford 67-58, built a 53-37 lead with just under three minutes left in the third quarter. The Cardinal responded with the last seven points of the quarter.
Padilla began the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 12, and the Cardinal never got closer than eight.
Stanford was 4-for-7 on free throws for the game.
Southern California took an early 10-point lead, but Stanford caught up in the second quarter. The Trojans led 40-31 at halftime, with Watkins scoring her only two points of the half on free throws in the final two minutes before the break.
–Field Level Media