Next: Southward bound

The Cardinal travels to Los Angeles this weekend to play:

• USC at the Galen Center on Friday evening at 6:00.
• UCLA in Pauley Pavilion on Sunday afternoon at 4:00.

Both games will be televised by Pac-12 Networks, streamed online by Pac-12 Networks, and broadcast by KZSU. USC live stats here and UCLA live stats here.

The Cardinal needs to be ready for two very tough games — from USC because they have everything to win and from UCLA because they have nothing to lose.

  USC Trojans

Well, the Trojans don't have everything to win, but this is a critical weekend for them. They'll be in second place or sixth place or anywhere in between in the Pac-12 standings after their games against Stanford and Cal. They need to win at least one of those games to have a realistic chance of earning a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament.

The Trojans were second in the Pac-12 when we played them four weeks ago at Maples (game report here.)

The Trojans are still somewhat unpredictable. They lost their next two games — to the Washington schools at home — then defeated UCLA at home. Last weekend they traveled to Oregon, where they defeated Oregon and lost to Oregon State. They're now in a three-way tie with Arizona State and Oregon State for third place in the Pac-12 standings.

Cassie Harberts has been the Trojan's top scorer in those last five games and the top rebounder in three of them. She has improved her scoring from 15.7 to 16.6 ppg and her rebounding from 7.3 to 7.7 rpg since we last met.

Here are USC's statistics and roster.

  UCLA Bruins

UCLA will probably end its injury-ridden season in the bottom tier of the Pac-12 standings, but it's not ending with a whimper.

The Bruins made the Cardinal fight hard for a win four weeks ago at Maples (game report here.)

They've lost four of six games since then and stand at #8 in the Pac-12, two games behind the tied Washington schools.

But last weekend their offense exploded for a 103-83 victory over Oregon, led by their three big scorers — Atonye Nyingifa (34 points), Nirra Fields (26 points) and Thea Lemberger (21 points) — plus 10 points apiece from Corrine Costa and Madeline Brooks.

Here are UCLA's statistics and roster.