In the end, it was too little and too late for the USC women’s basketball team.

The Trojans, seemingly affected by an early injury scare to star freshman Jazzy Davidson, fell behind early and left too much to overcome in a 76-64 loss to Washington in a Big Ten Tournament second-round game Thursday in Indianapolis.

“All credit goes to UW. This is a tough 8-9 game with two NCAA Tournament teams and they came out ready. They were excellent. I credit them for that,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb told the media after the game. “With our team, I think it’s disappointing that it took us a while to really, really be in the fight. And by that, I mean the possessions and plays that are outside the X’s and O’s, the rebounding, the 50/50 balls. I do think we responded and tried to show up a little better in the second half, but against a really good team, it’s a little too late.”

Davidson left the game at 4:52 of the opening quarter with a right shoulder injury and went back to the USC locker room. She returned to the game with her shoulder wrapped but appeared compromised. Davidson told the media after the game she will get an MRI on her shoulder.

The Big Ten Freshman of the Year, who came into the game averaging 17.9 points per game and having scored in double figures in 26 consecutive games, finished with eight points on 2-of-13 shooting and left the game with seven minutes left. She made just 1 of 8 shots in the first half, in which Trojans made only 6 of 24 shots (25%).

“I did not get a good look at the replay, and I trust our medical staff when they said she was OK to go back in. But then I thought it was bothering her and nagging her, and when someone can’t be at their best, you’re not mentally as present. And I was told, collective decision, down the stretch there, let’s shut her down for the rest of the game,” Gottlieb said.

“But the hope is that she will be OK with some rest. I will say, an exceedingly team-first and tough kid. She hasn’t tapped out of a rep, of a minute, of a game and wants to play through everything, which you don’t always get that, so we appreciate that. But at some point you’ve got to say, ‘OK, let’s shut her down today.’”

Having played all season without star JuJu Watkins as she recovers from a torn ACL, USC (17-13, 9-9 Big Ten), which came into the tournament as the ninth seed, now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate. The brackets will be revealed March 15, with the Trojans carrying four consecutive losses and likely looking at a ninth seed or worse one year after reaching the Elite Eight.

Washington (20-9, 10-8), the conference’s eighth seed, advances to take on top-seeded and No. 2-ranked UCLA in Friday morning’s quarterfinal. The Bruins (28-1, 18-0), who defeated USC in last year’s conference tournament championship, have won 22 consecutive games.

Elle Ladine dropped a game-high 25 points on the Trojans, including 13 in the first half when Washington showed its might.

A layup by former Trojan Avery Howell with 2:42 left in the first quarter put the Huskies up 7-6 and the Trojans never led after that.

Washington outscored USC 22-10 in the final 7:56 of the second quarter to maintain a 32-20 halftime lead. That ballooned even more in the third quarter when Washington outscored USC 24-16 for a 20-point lead going into the final frame.

The Huskies’ lead grew to 23 before the Trojans battled back and trimmed it to a 10-point deficit on three free throws by Londynn Jones, but only 1:51 was left on the clock.

Jones led USC with 19 points on and Kennedy Smith added 14 as the only Trojans in double figures. USC shot 31% (18 of 58) from the field and 27% (8 of 30) from 3-point range. Laura Williams pulled down 13 rebounds – nearly half of the Trojans’ total as they were outrebounded 44-27 – to go with nine points.

“As a team, we obviously didn’t shoot the way we wanted to shoot, but I think we needed to depend more on our defense instead. I feel like your defense normally can get your offense going,” Jones said. “So we had a couple lapses with rebounding and stuff like that that we normally know how to do. I think that hurt us in the beginning. And we tend to figure it out afterwards. We just needed to rebound and get it first on defense.”

Howell, one of four Trojans to transfer last season after she shot 46.2% from the field and 43.5% from long range, finished with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and nine rebounds.

Related Articles