USC won the Pac-12 Women's Tournament with an impressive 74-61 victory over Stanford in Sunday's championship game. This was the last conference tournament with the Pac-12's classic programs, and the Trojans certainly made the most out of it.
This is the Trojans' second Pac-12 trophy, as they also won the conference tournament in 2014. Lindsay Gottlieb's team had a breakout year in 2022-23, and the addition of JuJu Watkins has taken the Trojans to a whole new level this season.The Pac-12 Freshman of the Year was a key part of getting USC to the championship game, but Sunday's win was led by grad student guard McKenzie Forbes, who scored 26 points en route to tournament MVP honors.
With the title game win over Stanford, USC is expected to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament as the Pac-12 conference has been the most competitive this season. Six Pac-12 teams entered March ranked in the AP Top 25 poll.
On the other end, it was poetic Stanford even competed in the final Pac-12 title game. Even though the Cardinal didn't win it this year, they've been the conference's most dominant team and have won 15 Pac-12 championships.
"I'm really sad that this is the last conference game and the last time we'll be playing them, but it's been a great ride," said Stanford's Tara VanDerveer, the winningest coach in college basketball history.
2024 Pac-12 Tournament scores
First round -- Wednesday, March 6
Game 1: No. 5 Colorado def. No. 12 Oregon, 79-30
Game 2: No. 8 Cal def. No. 9 Washington State, 65-44
Game 3: No. 7 Arizona def. No. 10 Washington, 58-50
Game 4: No. 6 Utah def. No. 11 Arizona State, 71-60
Quarterfinals -- Thursday, March 7
Game 5: No. 4 Oregon State def. No. 5 Colorado, 85-79 (OT)
Game 6: No. 1 Stanford def. No. 8 Cal, 71-57
Game 7: No. 2 USC def. No. 7 Arizona, 65-62
Game 8: No. 3 UCLA def. No. 6 Utah, 67-57
Semifinals -- Friday, March 8
Game 8: No. 1 Stanford def. No. 4 Oregon State, 66-57
Game 9: No. 2 USC def No. 3 UCLA, 80-70
Pac-12 Women's Championship -- Sunday, March 10
Game 10: No. 2 USC def. No. 1 Stanford, 74-61
