USC women gather in front of Michigan to reach the final of the Big Ten – Orange County Register tournament

When a USC door closes, another opens.

While the horses of Troy, Juju Watkins, had an under-optimal match on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Big Ten conference, Kiki Iriafen accessed with 25 points and 11 rebounds in an 82-70 victory which was closer than the final dashboard suggested to Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Iriafen drew 10 out of 19 in victory, made her five free throws and collected seven offensive boards. Stanford’s transfer sets fire at the right time, with an average of 21.8 points and 9.0 rebounds in its last five games.

Watkins scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. She also finished with 11 rebounds, but pulled 7 out of 17 on the ground and committed six reversals.

Classified second in the country, the USC (28-2) awaits the winner of the second semi-final between the UCLA and the Ohio State.

The headache horses, leading a sequence of eight consecutive victories and coming from -9.5 favorites, finally equaled the Wolverines of the fifth head (22-10) at the end of the third trimester before moving away in the fourth.

The match was tied at 60 years with 6:28 to play, then the Trojan horses scored 14 unanswered points to trace their course to the final of the Sunday tournament, largely due to the shooting of 17 out of 28 (60.7%) in the second period.

The first half, however, was a world of difficulties for the USC and Watkins. The second -year star only scored four points on a 2 out of 9 shot with three of the nine reversals of the Trojans. Trojan horses pulled 12 out of 37 (32.4%) and 3 out of 12 (25.0%) from the 3 -point line.

They finished 29 out of 65 (44.6%) but made only 5 of the 18 (27.8%) of Deep.

The Wolverines limited the Trojan horses to nine points from the first quarter and led by nine in the second quarter when the 3-point pointer from Jordan Hobbs gave them a 27-18 with 5:24 to play.

The USC behaved well on the section in the first half, using a 6-0 race in the last two minutes-on a Layup Rayah Marshall, a 17-foot Watkins and two Kennedy Smith Watkins jumper-while forcing two missed shots and two reversals for Michigan to follow the 31-29 at the break.

Syla Swords led Michigan with 26 points.