How good is the fourth-ranked USC women’s basketball team? Consider: Wednesday night at USC the Gophers — particularly Amaya Battle — did a very good job against Trojans player-of-the-year candidate Juju Watkins for much of the game.

Minnesota cut its deficit to six early in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans then put them away Thursday night.

The Gophers’ women’s basketball team has established a strong position to end its six-year NCAA tournament drought heading into the second half of the Big Ten Conference schedule. But up next is No. 4 Southern California on Thursday and No.