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- USC women’s basketball defeats No. 8 Iowa 81-69 with one of its best performances of the season.
- Kennedy Smith’s relentless scoring run in the third quarter sparked USC to victory after the Trojans lost six of their last seven entering Thursday.
- Kara Dunn scored 25 points for USC and freshman Jazzy Davidson added 21 points and eight assists.
At the bitter end of a brutal January, Kennedy Smith put her head down, determined to will her way to the hoop. All month long, USC faded in the most unfortunate moments, letting games get away. There was the 16-point lead lost in Ann Arbor. The frustrating final five minutes against Oregon. The seven fourth-quarter turnovers at Minnesota. And so on.
The Trojans had lost six of their last seven entering Thursday, not far from the worst stretch of Lindsay Gottlieb’s tenure as coach. But as No. 8 Iowa climbed back in the third quarter, threatening to add another defeat to that list, Smith, the Trojans’ emotional leader, took matters into her own hands.
She drove once, then again, then again. Four times in a matter of two minutes, the relentless Smith attacked the hoop, carrying the weight of USC’s weeks-long slump on her shoulders as she did.
When she finally let up, the Trojans were well out in front again, rolling from there to an 81-69 victory.
Bennett Stirtz scored 20 points, including two free throws with 4.6 seconds remaining, as Iowa survived USC’s comeback bid to win 73-72 on Wednesday night.
The Hawkeyes (18-3 overall, 9-1 Big Ten) had not lost in conference play, while Gottlieb’s Trojans had struggled to find a foothold. But it all finally came together at Galen Center in what was arguably USC’s best game to date, an upset that could turn the tide of the Trojans’ season.
Gottlieb said after the game that she felt a win like that could spark a turnaround.
“This was really, really needed,” she said.
That the decisive stretch came courtesy of Smith felt all the more fitting, considering how she started the game.
The sophomore opened one for eight from the floor. At halftime, Gottlieb grabbed her: “Keep attacking,” she said.
Smith took that halftime advice to heart, scoring eight of her 12 points in that single stretch. But she was only one facet of the Trojans’ suddenly potent offensive attack.
Kara Dunn once again led the way, scoring 25 points — good for her seventh straight game with 21 or more. Freshman Jazzy Davidson wasn’t far behind, pouring in 21 points while adding eight assists and four rebounds.
The ball moved much better on offense than it had at any point in the previous month. The Trojans turned the ball over just five times, four fewer than their previous low, while tallying 23 assists, two fewer than their season high.
It felt like a glimpse, for one night at least, of how this was supposed to work all along.
“They were just tremendous,” Gottlieb said. “This team has big goals still and some learning and adversity behind us. But I think our best basketball is in front of us.”
It’ll be up to USC (12-9, 4-6) to prove that during a stretch ahead that should be a bit smoother than the last month.
But it may have to brave that stretch without Vivian Iwuchukwu, who appeared to suffer a leg injury in the second half.
The Trojans flew out to an early lead on the strength of their three-point shooting, which had largely failed them since the start of Big Ten season. They shot less than 30% from deep during their first nine conference games, while also shooting the second-most three-pointers of any team in the Big Ten.
That shooting slump suddenly ended Thursday. USC hit five three-pointers in the first 10 minutes, its most in any quarter this season, and led 28-13.
Iowa rallied quickly in the second quarter, hitting five three-pointers to cut the Trojans’ halftime lead to just six. At one point in the third quarter, the Hawkeyes drew within three.
That was as close as they got. USC made nine of its next 11 shots, while Iowa didn’t hit another perimeter shot until the fourth quarter. By then, USC had buried the Hawkeyes.
Whether the win will be enough for the Trojans to make up the ground they lost over the last month remains to be seen.
But as Gottlieb addressed the team after the game, her players burst into spontaneous celebration, flinging water at their coach and soaking in the afterglow of their biggest victory of the season.
“It really means everything,” Davidson said. “We really felt like we needed this win.”
