After a turbulent season plagued by injuries, the Arizona women's basketball team was in need of win in order to secure its fate in the NCAA tournament.

The Wildcats (19-11, 11-8 Pac-10) were unable to do so as they fell to Southern California, 74-66, Saturday night in Pacific 10 Tournament at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

Like Arizona's season, the game was a rollercoaster ride and the lead was exchanged five times between the teams.

"The two teams played extremely hard. It came down to a couple things - definitely rebounding particularly on the offensive end," said Arizona head coach Joan Bonvicini. "It was also a game of runs. In both halves, it seemed like they made their run late."

Arizona brought down 41 boards compared to the Trojans' 52.

With the game knotted at 57, sophomore forward-center Shannon Hobson hit one of two free throws before the Trojans used a 6-1 run to go up 63-58.

Arizona would chip away from the deficit, pulling within two points on a free throw by junior center Shawntinice Polk, 68-66 at 1:52.

The Wildcats put the Trojans on the free throw line three times in the remaining 44.8 seconds of the half as USC out-scored Arizona 6-0 down the stretch.

Eight minutes into the first half, freshman guard Ashley Whisonant nailed a jumper to give Arizona what would be its biggest lead of the half, 24-14. Later in the half, the Wildcats allowed a 9-0 Trojan scoring drive to give USC a three-point lead, 37-34.

Junior guard Natalie Jones netted a pair of free throws to pull Arizona within a point. Polk committed her second personal foul with three seconds remaining in the half and USC's Chloe Kerr made one of two free throws to give the Trojans a two-point cushion heading into halftime, 40-38.

"I think if we would have won today, then we would probably be in the tournament," Bonvicini said of Arizona's NCAA chances. "I think now we're definitely a bubble team."