LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Ten minutes in the middle of the contest proved too much to overcome for Washington State on the road at USC as the Cougs dropped an 80-64 decision to the Trojans at the Galen Center Friday night. The loss for the Cougs (10-16, 5-10 Pac-12) dropped them into a tie with the Trojans (14-12, 5-10 Pac-12) in the conference standings as USC evened the season series with WSU. The Cougs had previously taken the first meeting between the two teams in Pullman back in January.

Stymied with foul trouble in the opening half, the Cougs let their guard down for just 10 minutes in the contest only to see the Trojans capitalize to break open a close contest in the second quarter. Down just three heading into the second frame the Cougs scored the first five points of the new period to take a two-point lead just two minutes in. However, the lead would be the final advantage of the game for WSU as the Cougs went cold, scoring just six points over the final seven minutes of the half. The lack of offense combined with a barrage of threes from the Trojans turned the tides of the game in favor of the home team from which the Cougs could never recover. Overall, USC would hit five from deep in the second quarter including two in the halve's final minute to push their lead to 14 at the break.

In the second half the Cougs would make a pair of runs at the Trojans in an attempt to get back into the contest only to see their momentum hit an unforeseen wall. In the third, WSU mounted what looked like a 9-0 run against USC to cut what once was a 19-point lead to single digits with under one minute to play in the quarter. However, the good fortune turned against the Cougs quickly as a three by junior Pinelopi Pavlopoulou was changed to a two on replay during a Trojan timeout. USC would hit back-to-back threes in the waning moments of the period for what was a seven-point swing, erasing all the effort the Cougs had put in to get back into the game.

With just 10 minutes to play, the Cougs again made a run at the Trojans, this time in the form of a 10-1 blitz that cut a 20-point USC lead to 11 with just under three to play in the game. WSU came up with another steal and had a breakaway to possibly cut the lead to just three-possessions, but again hit a wall as the Cougs were whistled for a carry on an uncontested break to the basket. The turnover stopped WSU in its tracks as the Trojans were able to mentally recover and close the game out from the line.

In all, the Trojans hit 20-of-27 from the line including 13-of-16 in the fourth quarter thanks to a foul discrepancy that at one point had WSU with 12 fouls to the Trojans' three midway through the third quarter. The foul trouble hit the Cougs' front court the hardest allowing USC to crash the boards early to establish their lead.

Minyon Moore ended the night with a career-best 32 points as she became the first Trojan player to score 30+ points since the 2014 season. From the floor, Moore finished the game 8-of-11 while adding 14-of-17 from the line. Two other Trojan players joined Moore in double-figures in Kristen Simon with 14 points and 11 rebounds and Courtney Jaco with 12, six of which came on the two threes to end the third for USC.

The Cougars put four in double figures in the loss led by sophomore Alexys Swedlund who netted 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Junior Caila Hailey added 12 points for her second-straight double-digit scoring effort while redshirt-sophomore Nike McClure matched her career high for the second-straight game with 11 points. She would also add six rebounds and two blocks in 26 foul plagued minutes. Rounding out the scoring for the Cougars was sophomore Maria Kostourkova who posted 10 points and five rebounds in 26 minutes. Overall, the Cougs shot just 35.2% from the field in the game while the Trojans finished at 51.0%. 

Washington State will look for its first-ever season sweep of #18/16 UCLA Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion. The game is scheduled for an 11:06 a.m. tip on the PAC-12 Network.