Junior forward Christina Marinacci scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and senior guard Ashley Corral added 10 points to help USC defeat Arizona State 59-53 on Saturday.
The Trojans (16-11, 10-6 Pac-12), who won their fourth consecutive game, closed the game with a 14-8 run to pull away after the two teams were tied at 45-45 with 2:48 left.
Arizona State (18-10, 9-8 Pac-12), which led by as many as eight points at the start of the second half, lost its second consecutive game after starting its road trip to Los Angeles with a 53-38 setback at UCLA on Thursday.
Deja Mann scored a career-high 22 points for the Sun Devils, as the junior guard personally accounted for 14 of ASU’s 29 second-half points. Kali Bennett added nine points and eight rebounds for ASU, which was outrebounded 41-33.
While neither team shot well for the game (ASU finishd at 34.0 percent and USC at 36.2 percent), the Trojans were able to capitalize on a 44 percent effort in the second half while ASU was only able to connect on 30 percent of its shots.
After Mann hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 45-45, the Trojans began the game-deciding run when Alexyz Vaioletama’s 3-point play gave USC a 48-45 lead with 2:40 left. Kimberly Brandon, who returned to action after missing her first game of the season on Thursday due to illness, missed a jumper on the opposite end and, after being fouled seconds later, Corral hit two free throws to give the Trojans a 50-45 lead with two minutes left.
Mann kept the Sun Devils in the game by hitting a late 3-pointer to make it a two-point game, but Corral came back on USC’s ensuing position with a 3-pointer of her own to once again put USC up by five with 50 seconds remaining. Bennett’s attempt to match Corral missed its mark, and USC hit six free throws in the final 33 seconds to clinch the win.
Leading 24-20 at the half, the Sun Devils scored the first four points of the second half to take a 28-20 lead, their largest of the game. The brief scoring spurt capped a 23-8 run going back to the last 12-plus minutes of the first half.
The Sun Devils got off to an inauspicious start, as the Women of Troy scored the first 11 points of the contest to put the Sun Devils in an early hole.
Mann broke ASU’s scoring drought by hitting a 3-pointer 5:12 into the game. The Sun Devils would then hold the Trojans to one field goal over the next 10-plus minutes while meticulously chipping away at USC’s lead.
A layup by Janae Fulcher began a 9-0 run late in the first half that put the Sun Devils up 24-18 with 1:03 left in the half.
ASU o shot 40 percent from the field in the first half, including 50 percent (3 for 6) from beyond the arc.
