Jillian Alleyne and Lexi Petersen combined for 45 points for the Oregon women’s basketball team Monday night in Los Angeles, but a tide of turnovers plagued the Ducks down the stretch and they lost 74-67.
With the loss, Oregon (11-2, 0-2 Pac-12) has lost back-to-back games after starting the nonconference portion of their schedule 11-0.
The Ducks won the rebounding margin (36-28), but allowed the Trojans to shoot 49 percent from the field while shooting 42 percent themselves.
“I just give USC all the credit,” head coach Kelly Graves said in an interview with Oregon IMG Sports Network after the game. “They’re tougher than us. They were just physically tougher. That’s why we lost the game. Those kids have a defensive mindset and we wilted. That’s just the truth… Hopefully we learned a very valuable lesson.”
The Ducks had a four-point lead heading into halftime 28-24. Oregon turned the ball over 12 times in the second half, including nine times in the third quarter. That led to a 22-12 run for the Trojans, who led 46-40 after three quarters.
After a breakout third quarter, the Trojans extended their lead to double digits in the fourth quarter at 66-53 with 2:50 left to play. The Ducks began to foul to get the ball back, but strong performance from USC at the free throw line in the game (18-of-24) iced the game.
After averaging more than 20 assists going into Monday night’s game, the Ducks had nine assists on 23 made field goals against USC. Alleyne’s double-double was her 82nd of her career and her 29th straight.
“This game hurts,” Graves said on Oregon IMG. “I thought this was the team we could beat, no question about it… We unfortunately didn’t make enough plays.”
The Ducks next travel to Oregon State on Friday night at 7 p.m.
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne