SALT LAKE CITY.–The USC women’s basketball team made a power move in the second half to upend host Utah 66-49 on Sunday.
The Trojans trailed by four points at halftime but held the Utes to just 16 points in the second half and capped the game on a 15-0 scoring surge, fueled by 10 straight points from Shalexxus Aaron, to help complete the Trojans’ comeback road win.
USC improves to 10-8 overall and to 8-7 in Pac-12 play with the win, while Utah goes to 5-13, 4-13.
For the second straight game, Alyson Miura scored 10 points, one of three Trojans to finish in double figures. In her last three contests, Miura has hit six 3-pointers.
The difference in the first half came decidedly at the free-throw line, where Utah went 10-of-14 while the Trojans received no trips to the stripe in the first 20 minutes. Both teams had hit five 3-pointers apiece and were otherwise offensively even as USC was shooting 34 percent from the floor and Utah was at 36 percent.
Thanks in part to that free-throw advantage, Utah gripped a 33-29 lead by halftime.
In the second, USC came out on an 11-0 run to take the lead and put the Utes on their heels. Only seven points would fall for Utah in the fourth, while USC turned an early tie into a commanding lead with that 15-0 run to close the last 5:20 of play.
USC would wrap the game shooting 41 percent from the floor, having hit nine 3-pointers along the way and going 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Utah cooled to finish at 28 percent overall, finishing with six threes and going 13-of-18 from the stripe. Utah outrebounded the Trojans 42-34 but committed 17 turnovers.
USC received a game-high 17 points from Endyia Rogers and a season-high 16 points from Aaron.
Rogers scored in double digits for the 16th time this season and also tied her season high of seven assists.
USC returns home for the next stretch of Pac-12 play, hosting Oregon State in a 2:30 p.m. faceoff on Friday at Galen Center. On Feb. 21, the Trojans take on Oregon at 12 p.m.
– Courtesy USC Athletics