Riverside, CA—Despite a bounce-back performance by senior guard Michelle Curry, the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team (0-2) couldn't recover from another slow start, falling 64-46 at home to USC (2-0) on Monday night. Curry led all Highlanders with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
 
KEY RUN
For the second straight game to open the year, the Highlanders fell behind early. After committing a turnover on each of its first four possessions, UCR found itself trailing 17-1 a little over five minutes into the game.
 
GAME NOTES
Curry's team-high 19-point performance came just three nights after she scored one point in UCR's season-opener against LMU (box score/recap). She has now scored 12 or more points in 11 of her last 12 games dating back to last season.
 
Although they trailed 38-22 at halftime, the Highlanders actually shot the ball more efficiently than USC in the first half, knocking down 9-of-21 (.429) from the field compared to 12-of-30 (.400) for the visitors.
 
The Trojans' lopsided first half advantage came from their dominance in other areas of the game, as they finished the first 20 minutes with five fewer turnovers (7 to 12), ten more free throw attempts (16 to 6), and eight more rebounds (21 to 13).

For the game, USC went 16-of-24 (.667) from the charity stripe, compared to 6-of-9 (.667) for UC Riverside.

The Highlanders had five new starters in the lineup tonight, including guard Jannon Otto. The redshirt sophomore had another solid outing, tallying nine points (4-8 FG) to go along with a team-high four assists.

Also making their first starts as Highlanders were freshmen guards Keilanei Cooper and Tianna Eaton. Cooper ended the night with five points and four rebounds on on 2-of-4 shooting, while Eaton added three assists and three boards.