The No. 2 Huskies downed No. 1 USC 78-64 in the Elite Eight on Monday as the Trojans were without star JuJu Watkins, who suffered a torn ACL in the Round of 32. The Final Four appearance is the 24th for the Huskies, the most of any program in women's college basketball history.

The USC Trojans women's basketball team came up short against the UConn Huskies during t heir March 31 showdown in the Elite Eight round of the 2025 NCAA Tourna

After JuJu Watkins' injury, the USC Trojans have also lost former highly-touted recruit Avery Howell to the transfer portal.

As Gottlieb said in her statement, Watkins' sophomore year ended in devastating fashion. This obviously was not the plan for USC, and as the coach stated, Watkins' absence only makes Monday's Elite Eight loss even more painful -- especially once it sinks in for them.

UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma looks back on the Huskies’ first NCAA Tournament win, also could Paige Bueckers’ 40-point performance encourage JuJu Watkins after

Head coach Geno Auriemma and his No. 2 UConn Huskies are preparing for a heavyweight showdown with No. 1 USC in the Elite Eight of the 2025 NCAA women's basketball tournament on Monday night.

USC put up a fight. But ultimately, Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong — and the absence of JuJu Watkins — proved too much to overcome. The Trojans opened an early lead over UConn and then rallied from a 19-point halftime deficit to cut the UConn lead to five points to close the third quarter.

The women's college basketball community is still reeling from what happened to USC Trojans sophomore superstar JuJu Watkins during USC's second round game of t