Trailing by seven with 2:48 remaining, USC’s Brianna Barrett made two free throws to cut her team’s deficit to five. After a missed jumper from Ciera Dunbar and a foul by Emily Potter, the Trojans made another two from the charity stripe to whittle the deficit down to just three with 2:27 on the clock. Michelle Plouffe then missed a shot and Barrett responded with two more free throws and the Utes’ lead was just one with 1:45 to go.
Things somehow got worse for Utah. Over the next 90 seconds, the Utes turned the ball over four times and missed two layups. USC made them pay and seized control of the contest.
“I was happy with how we played in most areas,” Levrets said. “We defended, rebounded, did a great job in scout defense and at half court, we did really good. We had the ball and then we did not score again and we got outscored. Obviously frustrating way to end, but a lot of positives, so we will look at those and not just the negatives.”
While turnovers doomed Utah down the stretch, they were a problem throughout the contest as the Utes committed 21. The Trojans also got 26 points from the foul line in the victory. On the other hand, Utah shot just 17-of-54 from the field.
Plouffe, who fouled out during the final seconds, led the Utes with 15 points and five rebounds with three assists, but her frontcourt mate Emily Potter only contributed a season-low two points, although she did pull down 11 rebounds. Danielle Rodriguez had a solid outing with 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
“I just think it is a mental thing,” Rodriguez said about the collapse down the stretch. “It is about being focused at the end of the game and keeping your head in the game no matter if they were going on a run or not. I think once they do and they start pressuring, mentally we lost the toughness and that is where I think it all comes from.”
Now 0-2 in Pac-12 play, Levrets and the Utes are learning more about their weaknesses. In particular, they are recognizing that they need to improve their play when an opponent puts on the pressure like USC did Sunday.
“We cannot handle pressure,” Levrets said. “We are really good at quite a few things, but we are glaringly bad in one very, very important category and it has cost us two games here this weekend. That is such a big portion of the game and it is really, really hard to overcome.”
The Utes will be back at home to face Stanford on Friday in the Huntsman Center.