STANFORD, Calif. – Effort, communication and defense. A refocused Cardinal squad worked on all three this week and it paid off on Friday night in the form of a 79-60 win for No. 19 Stanford over visiting USC in Maples Pavilion.
Eleven players scored, four in double figures, and Stanford (18-7, 10-3 Pac-12) shot over 55 percent from the floor to beat the Trojans (13-11, 5-8 Pac-12) for the 16th time in the last 17 meetings.
Lili Thompson poured in 12 of her team-high 14 in the second half, Briana Roberson and Amber Orrange added 13 apiece and Bonnie Samuelson drained four 3-pointers to score 12. Stanford upped its record to a perfect 10-0 when at least four score 10 or more.
USC, which trailed by 11 at the half, cut its deficit to five early in the second, but Stanford scored eight of the game's next 10 to stretch its lead back to double digits, 50-39. When Thompson drained a jumper with 8:56 to go, the Cardinal led 57-46 and would be up by more than 10 the rest of the way.
Following back-to-back losses in Arizona, captains Jasmine Camp and Erica Payne were inserted into the starting lineup to improve both the Cardinal's communication and effort. Each scored a bucket in the early going to set the tone for Stanford.
The Trojans led 16-14 before Stanford went on a 13-2 run to take control. Alexyz Vaioletama made a bucket for USC at 13:18, but her team would go more than five minutes before it scored another point. Stanford forced five turnovers during the spurt and, as was the case much of the night, evenly distributed its 13 points during the run among six different players.
USC started 7-of-11 from the field, but Stanford's defense responded and held its opponent to just three makes in its next 16 attempts to close out the first half.
Stanford made 32 of its 58 shots from the floor (55.2 percent), its third best clip this season alongside its 57.4 percent mark at Hawaii on Nov. 29 and its eye-popping 64.9 percent number in the season opener against Boston College (Nov. 14).
Orrange scored in double figures for the eighth-straight game, a new career high. Bonnie Samuelson's four 3-pointers moved her past Sebnem Kimyacioglu and into sole possession of fifth place on Stanford's all-time list with 207. The senior is one behind Kelley Suminski for fourth and three shy of Vanessa Nygaard for third.
As Thompson dominated the second, Roberson steered the ship in the first. The sophomore Roberson scored 11 of her 13 in just 10 minutes in the first half to give the Cardinal its 38-27 lead at intermission.
Stanford's bench, which normally accounts for 29 percent of its scoring, tallied 41 of the team's 79 points on Friday. The Cardinal also beat USC in the paint, 36-24, and committed only seven turnovers while forcing 12.
Stanford is back in action on Sunday when it plays its penultimate regular-season home game against UCLA (10-14, 6-7 Pac-12) at 4:30 p.m. Krista Blunk and Mary Murphy will call that action on the Pac-12 Networks.