ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The USC Women of Troy have not only been struggling as of late, but they have been sludging in big games.
USC had another tough task on their plate for Sunday afternoon with a date with the No.7 ranked Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor and coming off a loss last time out against No.13 Michigan State, head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and her squad looked to erase the whiteboard and start a new before going back home.
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Unfortunately, the Women of Troy displayed what the Trojans faithful have been seeing for the last two weeks, which is their unwilligness to close out the big games and in due part, USC falls to the Wolverines 73-67.
Senior Kara Dunn’s performance against the Wolverines proved once more how vital she is to this Women fo Troy squad that is still trying to find their groove in the dog days of the season. She racked up a team best 26 points on 9-14 shooting and nine rebounds.
Dunn’s 26-point performance marks her sixth straight game in which she has scored 20 or more points.
It looked as though it would be smooth sailing for the 17-3 Wolverines, as by the time halftime came, the Wolverines had themselves a 40-27 lead. Olivia Olson was perfect from the floor in the first half, scoring 10 points on 5-5 shooting. She would end the game with a Michigan best 24 points on 10-20 shooting from the floor and eight rebounds.
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Coming out of the half, the Trojans had found their intensity on the offensive front. They were down as much as 16 through the middle part of the third quarter until a huge scoring output gave them the lead 50-48. By the end of the third, USC had a58-53 lead and scored a season high 31 points in the third quarter alone.
The fourth quarter was a completely different story.
The Women of Troy were unable to capatilize on their explosive third quarter performance and managed to score just a measly nine points on 3-13 shooting. The Wolverines were able to crawl back in theirown right by shooting 53% from the floor in the fourth.
With this loss, the Women of Troy drop their sixth game in their last seven and decline to an 11-9 record. USC heads back home to play the Iowa Hawkeyes on Thursday.
