Colorado Drops Fourth Straight To USC, 81-61

An excess of turnovers and a dismal first half doomed Colorado women's basketball once again in an 81-61 loss to the USC Women of Troy.

"We just have to regroup, we have to keep getting better," said head coach Linda Lappe. "You have to give USC a lot of credit, they came in here and had a lot of confidence and played hard."

Much like Monday's outing against California in Berkeley, CU came out of the gates slowly, falling behind 27-12 at the 7:25 mark of the first half.

It looked like the Buffs were in danger of getting obliterated in the first half. Two Alexyz Vaioletama free throws put the Women of Troy up 40-21 with 1:25 to play in the first half. Jamee Swan and Jasmine Sborov responded by scoring the final six points of the half, cutting the halftime deficit to just 13 points, 40-27.

"I think that (the run) gave us confidence going into the second half, knowing that we were in the game, and that we were going to make a push," said Swan.

Colorado returned to the floor with some of the same competitiveness they showed at the end of the first half. Lauren Huggins hit a three pointer to cut the USC lead to just nine, with over 12 minutes to play. But whenever CU closed to within striking distance, the Women of Troy responded with big momentum swinging plays.

Vaioletama countered Huggins' three-pointer immediately, with an old-fashioned three-point play of her own.

Colorado, now 0-3 in Pac-12 play, has lost six of its last seven contests.

"I think you look at one state in most of those games - and it's turnovers," said Lappe. "Once we can figure that out, I have no doubt (in CU's ability to win)."

The Buffs return to the floor in search of their first Pac-12 win on Sunday against UCLA.