NCAAW: KiKi Iriafen, Lauren Betts come up big for USC, UCLA in Paris

The opening women’s college basketball games looked great on paper. In practice, it reminds us that teams don’t pick up where they left off and, in fact, start over each year.

The juggernaut No. 3 USC Trojans looked sloppy, disorganized and lost for most of the game but snuck out of their contest against No. 20 Ole Miss Rebels with a 68-66 victory thanks to a pair of late-game Kiki Iriafen free throws. The No. 5 UCLA Bruins had a much smoother time, defeating No. 17 Louisville Cardinals 66-59. Lauren Betts was electric, registering her first double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Here’s how each game went and how the Southern California teams got wins in France.

How the Trojans won

This was ugly basketball, without question. The Trojans shot 40 percent from the field, and the Rebels converted just 29 percent of their shots. Turnovers were frequent and often for both sides; Ole Miss had 16, but USC overwhelmed that mark with a whopping 26.

Still, an ugly win is a victory, and USC got the job done.

JuJu Watkins got going during the second quarter and ended with 27 points on 8-for-19 shooting. She also registered 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and five blocks. The USC transfers, Iriafen and Talia von Oelhoffen, will need some time to adjust to this team and playing alongside Watkins, but the first game did show some glimmers of what they can be. Iriafen had 22 points and found her rhythm, while von Oelhoffen struggled, scoring just two points, but they were important ones down the stretch.

Ole Miss stayed in the game thanks to Madison Scott, who we mentioned was a player to watch. Scott scored 14 points for the Rebels. KK Deans also had a strong showing, scoring 19 points to lead Ole Miss. In the final frame, the Ole Miss duo worked together, with Scott dishing the ball to Deans, who hit a jumper to give them a 66-64 advantage with 1:43 left to play. However, von Oelhoffen drove into the paint, was fouled and hit her pair of free throws to even the game.

With 21 seconds left, Ole Miss failed to inbound the ball and Iriafen snagged it. She passed up a shot, and the ball swung around to von Oelhoffen, who missed a jumper, but Iriafen got the rebound and was fouled on her shot attempt. She hit the free throws, and after the Rebels missed their last shot attempt, USC walked away with the 68-66 win.

How the Bruins won

Louisville started the matchup against UCLA on a nice 6-0 run and stayed in control during the opening quarter, leading 18-13 after 10 minutes of play. Then, Betts got going, distributing the ball well with four dimes in the second quarter, and UCLA took the lead in the closing seconds of the half with a Londynn Jones 3-pointer.

The Cardinals didn’t just bow down to the Bruins; they fought back to start the third quarter. Nyla Harris and Ja’Leah Williams scored in bunches, and midway through the period, everything was even at 40. UCLA went on a 5-0 run to close out the quarter and entered the fourth ahead 50-46.

Betts closed the door at any hopes of a potential upset in the final minutes of this one. She made consecutive baskets with under five minutes to go and continued to facilitate the ball well, with her teammates Jones and Timea Gardiner knocking down shots to secure the 66-59 win.