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Chavez Rallies No. 12 Arizona Past USC 68-59

Feb 26, 2022

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Taylor Chavez hit five 3-pointers and scored a season-high 18 points and No. 12 Arizona defeated Southern California 68-59 on Saturday.

Shaina Pellington added 14 points, Lauren Ware had 12 with 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and Sam Thomas scored 10 as the Wildcats (20-6, 10-6 Pac-12 Conference) found a way to win without leading scorer Cate Reese.

Reese, who averages 14.6 points a game, was injured late in a 72-67 loss at Washington State last weekend and her return is unknown.

Arizona earned a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament next week and it's fourth-straight 20-win season. Adia Barnes is the first coach in program history to record four-straight 20-win seasons.

Alyson Miura scored 19 points for USC (12-15, 5-12) and Rayah Marshall added 18.

Marshall hit all five shots and scored 11 points in the first quarter to ace Arizona, which was 2 of 15, to a 16-6 lead. The Trojans were up nine with 1:23 to play in the second quarter when Chavez completed a four-point play and followed with a 3-pointer before Pellington had a three-point play in the last second for a 34-33 Arizona lead.

Chavez had five points in a 7-0 run that helped Arizona take a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter. USC got within six with a minute to play but didn't score again.

Arizona only had six turnovers and got 19 points off 21 USC giveaways.

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More AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25