Their performance wasn’t stylish, but there was a sense of urgency about the Stanford women Friday night.

They weren’t about to lose three games in a row for the first time in 14 years.

After losing on the road last week to Arizona State and Arizona, the No. 19 Cardinal ran away from USC in the second half for a 79-60 victory at Maples Pavilion.

“This in some ways might have been our most important game of the season,” head coach Tara VanDerveer said.

She was peeved at her team’s lack of effort and its communication failures in the desert. She didn’t like its rebounding, either. She harped on those problems this week in practice.

To further hammer the point home, she started two players who are normally bench warmers, Erica Payne and Jasmine Camp, in place of Lili Thompson and Briana Roberson.

“I knew I could totally depend on them to talk on the floor,” she said. “We had some really bad communication issues down in Arizona. I knew they would give an absolutely A-plus effort.”

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After watching video of the two losses, VanDerveer said she didn’t see a lot of energy. “Some people maybe got complacent,” she said.

She added, “Our defense looked like it was sleepwalking. There was no sense of urgency. I don’t know if we felt we could just show up and play. It was embarrassing.”

Thompson scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half, when the Cardinal steadily widened what was an 11-point lead at the break. As for not starting, she said she was happy for Payne and Camp and added, “Every week is a learning process.”

Roberson came off the bench to score 11 of her 13 points in the first half. It took Stanford (18-7, 10-3 Pac-12) a while to shake the Trojans. Amber Orrange also scored 13 points, and Bonnie Samuelson hit 4 of 9 three-point tries for her 12 points.

Stanford shot 55 percent for the game and committed just seven turnovers. Fifteen players saw action, and 11 of them scored.

USC (13-11, 5-8), under second-year head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dykes, pounded the offensive glass with a vengeance. “We had 19 offensive rebounds, but we didn’t have 19 putbacks,” she said. “When we get second looks at the basket, one of the things we need to do is finish around the basket better.”

Alexyz Vaioletama led the Trojans with 14 points. Kaneisha Horn had 10 points and 11 rebounds, helping USC to a 38-34 edge on the boards.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald