Forbes' career-best 36 lift short-handed No. 6 USC women past Long Beach 85-77

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- — McKenzie Forbes finished with a career-high 36 points and No. 6 USC, despite missing two starters, turned back Long Beach State 85-77 on Thursday.

The Trojans managed to match the 10-0 starts of the 1983-84 and 1984-85 teams despite missing their top two scorers, freshman star Juju Watkins (26.8 points per game) and Rayah Marshall (14.3), who is also USC's top rebounder. The pair are “day-to-day” with undisclosed injuries.

Forbes, a graduate transfer from Harvard who had a 30-point game her junior year, had 23 points in the second half, including 14 in the fourth quarter, to help the Trojans hold on.

USC made 8 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes, the last four by Forbes after she missed a pair with 19 seconds to go. The Trojans were 15 of 19 from the line in the fourth quarter and 31 of 39 for the game to outscore the Beach by 11. Long Beach State had two players foul out and four finish with four fouls.

Kayla Padilla added 16 points and Taylor Bigby scored 11 for USC, which is off until opening Pac-12 play at No. 2 UCLA on Dec. 30.

Savannah Tucker led The Beach (5-5) with 15 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Lovely Sonnier and Sydney Woodley both added 14 points and Jada Crawshaw scored 12 off the bench, along with a career-high 10 rebounds. It was the first double-double for the freshman from Australia.

A layup by Roxane Makolo and five free throws had USC up 71-57 with 6:26 to play. A layup by Woodley cut that to 75-71 with 2:20 to play.

Long Beach State had a 49-39 rebounding advantage but also had 22 turnovers, 10 more than USC. The Trojans had 10 3s to three for LBSU.

A 7-0 run late in the first quarter helped the Trojans take a 22-16 lead and they never trailed again. But despite being up by as many as 12 in the second quarter, 40-31 at halftime and 11 in the third quarter, they couldn't put The Beach away.

USC was up 48-37 but went four minutes without a field goal and Long Beach State was within 54-50 with 1:31 to go in the third. The Beach were 9 of 11 in the third quarter while USC was 5 of 17 but with three 3s. The Trojans made all six of their free throws and led 59-52 entering the fourth quarter.

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