LOS ANGELES — The No. 16 USC women’s basketball team recovered from a sluggish start to hand Washington its first loss, 59-50, and win its Big Ten Conference opener.
The win marked head coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s 100th win as head coach at USC.
“Really proud of the way we competed,” Gottlieb told reporters after the game. “Especially the first quarter. I know that sounds crazy, but to not score for eight and a half minutes and not lose our spirit and only be down by four says a lot about who we have become and are trying to become.”
The Trojans (7-2 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) outworked the No. 21 Huskies on the boards and grabbed 50 to Washington’s 38. The Huskies (8-1, 0-1) came into the game as the second-best rebounding team in the conference at 44.9 rebounds per game.
“That’s something that we need to take pride in,” sophomore guard Kennedy Smith said. “This game, we really focused on putting a body against somebody. Don’t tip the board — grab it. It’s more of an us type of thing. We only control that, so we have to do it ourselves to make it translate.”
USC’s Jazzy Davidson recorded a double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds and Smith added 13 points on 40% shooting.
Washington’s Avery Howell, who previously played at USC, scored 16 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.
The Trojans will take a break from Big Ten play for their next game, but the competition won’t let up. No. 1 UConn comes to Galen Center for a 2:30 tipoff on Saturday.
Davidson took control for USC in the second quarter against Washington after the Trojans only put up four points in the first quarter. Davidson and Londynn Jones both made jump shots, but the Trojans turned the ball over four times and Washington outscored them 8-4.
Gottlieb wasn’t worried.
“I saw a locked-in team,” she said. “I didn’t think anyone was pointing fingers at anyone else, or getting frustrated or not staying the course and we continued to get stops. It’s physical when you get to conference play. We just needed to settle in.”
Sayvia Sellers drained a deep 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 14-7 advantage with 7:52 on the clock before Davidson single-handedly scored six unanswered points.
The true freshman hit two midrange jump shots before dribbling in with her left hand for a layup to cut Washington’s lead to 16-13. Dayana Mendes made a layup of her own and Kennedy Smith scored on a 3-point shot to get USC its first lead of the game at 17-16.
The Trojans worked to disrupt the Huskies’ flow that was serving them so well in the first quarter and allowed 14 points in the quarter — an effort that was enough to lock the score into a 22-all tie at halftime.
Sayvia Sellers, who was averaging 19.1 points per game before Sunday, had already reached 13 points by the break and was 3-for-5 on 3-point attempts. It wasn’t her most efficient game, but the junior guard still made 7-of-23 shots for 20 points overall.
“We felt like she was the head of the snake for them,” Gottlieb said. “She’s just really good, and we feel the utmost confidence in our defenders. It’s a good place to be when you know other teams have an elite player that you can maybe take away things from them that other teams can’t.”
Washington’s defense initiated one-on-one battles and became increasingly physical as the game went on. Davidson made a three from the corner to keep USC ahead 25-24 at the 7:52 mark as the Trojans continued their attempts to chase the Huskies — especially Howell — off the 3-point line.
“I saw a resolve in our team,” Gottlieb said. “I knew we could get the next stop. I knew we could make the next play. We didn’t make a ton of threes, but we had a couple big ones. I thought in the second half, we really attacked the paint more, and we were just confident with everything we were doing.”
USC cut down on turnovers and scored in spurts, but frequently enough to tack on 17 points in the third frame. A 12-2 scoring run kept the Trojans afloat midway through the quarter and they were able to close it out with a 39-30 lead.
Davidson made a bounce pass in transition to Jones for a layup with a minute on the clock to keep USC’s offense flowing.
USC fought through the Huskies’ physicality to add 20 points in the final quarter. Kennedy Smith’s turnaround jumper made it 51-46 in USC’s favor and Jones pivoted for her own jump shot in the final minute to help hold off Washington with style.