Notre Dame had another back-and-forth game, but for the fourth game in a row, the Irish were able to pull away at the end and beat USC.

“We’ve had four of those now,” coach Muffet McGraw said. “I’d kind of like to have one where we feel good and look good from start to finish.”

USC shot terribly. "If we could have shot around 36 percent, who knows?" USC coach Marl Trakh said. "You have to execute the last few minutes of the game. You have to make big shots, and Notre Dame did that."

Having lost to both ND and Long Beach State in the last week, the Trojans will likely fall out of the rankings.