LOS ANGELES, CA — Coming off their first loss of the season against South Carolina last Saturday, the USC Women’s Basketball squad needed a refresher to get themselves back on track, and they did just that Tuesday night back at the Galen Center as they re-entered the win column, beating the Portland Pilots 78-51.
The Women of Troy once more had a spotty first half to begin this contest, struggling to get some offense going in the first quarter, but would soon find their groove as the half concluded, as they would end it on a 24-5 run and not look back for the rest of the game. Jazzy Davidson would lead the charge offensively in this game, scoring 19 points on 9-16 shooting and notching 5 assists and 7 rebounds in the process.
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“I think it’s really unique to be able to play all these amazing teams so early into my freshman season, so I am just learning from my teammates and coaches who have been there before,” Davidson said on how she’s handled her first few weeks as a freshman starter for USC.
Londynn Jones and Kennedy Smith had themselves a night offensively as well in the second half. Smith would finish her night scoring 13 points on 5-14 shooting and 2 steals to her credit. Jones, on the other hand, would rack up 12 points on 4-12 shooting and obtain a plus/minus of 23.
“I feel like I haven’t produced as much as I wanted to, obviously, I bring that defensive intensity, but offensively, I feel like I could be better for my team,” Smith said when asked to rate her performance in the win. “I think the shots are going to fall, like coach Lindsay said, so progressively, just keep working.”
Along with USC’s efficiency in scoring and finding open looks from beyond the arc, the Women of Troy also scored 40 points in the paint, more than half of their total points.
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“I think we had a lot of live-ball turnovers that we created, so we had 33 points off their turnovers, and a lot of those were layups,” Coach Gottlieb said on taking advantage of the Pilots’ mishandling of the basketball in the paint. “We had a number of players just pick-pocketing and getting to the rim.”
The Women of Troy now look ahead to this Friday for another road game, this time against the No.24 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend. The Fighting Irish will come out swinging as they were crushed in their last game against No.6 Michigan Wolverines.
“I thought ultimately, we found more rhythm on offense, and it started at the defensive end. We saw some shots go down, and we’re still a work in progress, but we’ll take it and learn from every game,” Coach Gottlieb said.
