In the final road game of the regular season, the No. 25 ASU women's basketball team lost to the USC Trojans 77-62, Friday night at the Galen Center.
The Sun Devils (17-8, 8-5 Pac-12) started out hot off the tip with an 8-0 run. However, the Trojans (16-8, 6-7 Pac-12) instituted a 2-3 zone to halt any Sun Devil scoring.
USC was able to claw from behind and eventually took a 12-11 lead heading into the second quarter, and they never looked back.
At halftime the Trojans led the Sun Devils 30-25.
USC's lead was cut down to 53-48 after the third quarter, but the Trojans took care of the fourth, outscoring the Sun Devils by 10 and sealing a 15 point victory.
For the Trojans, junior guard Aliyah Mazyck scored 24 points and added five rebounds. Senior forward Kristen Simon scored 22 points and left the ASU post players in foul trouble for most of the game.
ASU's leading scorer was redshirt junior guard Courtney Ekmark, who led the team with 17 points going 5-6 from three-point range. She was the only Sun Devil on the night to make a shot from behind the arc.
The Sun Devils shot 49.1 percent from the field and kept themselves in the game for three quarters.
What worked in USC’s favor were 3-pointers made and free-throws made. The Trojans from those two categories scored 39 points and shot 50.9 percent from the field.
ASU ends their Southern California road trip this Sunday, Feb. 11 at Pauley Pavilion, facing the No. 8 UCLA Bruins (19-4, 10-2 Pac-12) at 2 p.m.
Reach the reporter at sbemanue@asu.edu or follow @SebastianEman24 on Twitter.
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