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A five-game homestand in the middle of the Pac-12 schedule gave the Utah Utes women's basketball team a chance to move into the upper half of the conference standings.

But a 70-59 loss to visiting USC on Friday night, Utah's third home loss in a row, now has the Utes heading in the opposite direction.

At the Huntsman Center, one player from each team got into major foul trouble — but Utah's sophomore center Emily Potter proved to be pivotal in a game whose officiating was not to the liking of Utes' coach Lynne Roberts.

"What the game came down to was fouls — 21 on us and 12 on them," Roberts said.

"The way the game was called tonight, we haven't been officiated like that all year," she added. "So I have an issue with that. It's almost February and they're going to call a game differently."

Southern California (16-5, 4-5) had only seven players get into the game and Roberts afterward said her hope was that it would be the visitors that got into foul difficulty.

But when Potter went to the bench after quickly picking up her third and fourth fouls early in the second half, that proved to be the tipping point. The Canadian sophomore exited a 46-43 game with 7:08 left in the third.

Utah (12-8, 4-5 Pac-12) then went more than four minutes without scoring a point. Meanwhile, USC sophomore guard Sadie Edwards tallied half of her team's output in a 10-0 Trojans' run that gave the visitors a 56-43 advantage.

Edwards scored 24 points and added four steals.

"Sadie played really well and Courtney Jaco played really well. It was important for us to play defense and our guards established themselves very well," said Southern Cal coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke. "We got in the passing lanes, which allowed us to get on the fastbreak and some easy looks at the basket."

The Utes were led by sophomore guard Malia Nawahine's 14 points and Paige Crozon added 12.

Potter finished with 10 points, but her return to play in the fourth quarter was brief at best; she entered with 7:03 remaining and was called on her fifth foul 12 seconds later.

"There can't be a drop off when Potter comes off the floor," said reserve post Joeseta Fatuesi, who scored seven points and played the rest of the game in Potter's absence.

The Utes made one run at the Trojans in the fourth. Trailing 61-49 after Edwards made a shot to start the last period, Utah then scored eight consecutive points — capped by a Fatuesi bucket off a pass from senior guard Danielle Rodriguez, who contributed five assists.

But Alexis Lloyd then retaliated with a three-point play for USC, which was followed by a basket by Jaco as the lead went back to nine.

Roberts said her team won't be able to dwell on the home woes as the Utes host UCLA on Sunday.

"It's disappointing to lose. It stinks and we don't want to get used to it," Roberts said. "But we cannot panic."