Re-energized USC women seek second straight win – Orange County Register

Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb could only get out a handful of words before she was drowned out by the sound of her team celebrating. The USC women’s basketball locker room had come to life after the Trojans took down No. 8 Iowa on Thursday.

Players mobbed senior Kara Dunn. JuJu Watkins, sidelined but present all season, grabbed freshman Jazzy Davidson’s shoulders and gave her a celebratory shake. Cups from the team water cooler were strewn about the room.

The exhilaration was much needed after back-to-back losses on a road trip to the state of Michigan sank their Big Ten record even lower.

With a win against Rutgers (9-12 overall, 1-9 Big Ten) on Sunday afternoon, USC (12-9, 4-6) can bring its Big Ten record one step closer to the .500 mark before finishing conference play strong against a slate of mostly unranked opponents.

“We’ve got eight games in the second half of conference and my expectation is that we’re at the top in these,” Gottlieb told reporters after beating Iowa. “I can’t do anything about what happened, but we’re at our hottest in these last nine games.”

Junior guard Malia Samuels did not play in the win Thursday due to an undisclosed injury, but was present on the bench and in the locker room. Sophomore forward Vivian Iwuchukwu left the game early due to an apparent leg injury, but was shown standing and celebrating postgame with her teammates in photos posted to USC’s social media accounts.

Both players are valuable defensively, but the offense should operate to near its full potential if the two are unavailable. Kennedy Smith, Londynn Jones, Davidson and Dunn – who surpassed 1,500 career points Thursday – are a difficult combination of shooters for opponents.

“The offense is designed for people to make the right read,” Gottlieb said. “And if the right read’s for Ken to go to the rim, she can go to the rim. And if there’s two people there, we know she’s going to kick it and someone’s going to hit a three. That’s the idea.”

The Trojans are averaging 17 assists a game, which is sixth in the 18-team conference. They’re not always efficient when they get the ball, however, and USC’s 40.6% shooting from the field is second-worst in the Big Ten.

Rutgers, which is on a three-game losing streak, has been struggling to score and is putting up a conference-low 58.8 points per game. Illness has also affected the roster, keeping leading scorer Nene Ndiaye out for three games and starting guard Zachara Perkins out for one.

The two were back on the court in the Scarlet Knights’ Wednesday night loss to Oregon. Starting guard Faith Blackstone missed that game due to illness.

“Zachara gave a tremendous effort, but she also looked rusty,” Rutgers head coach Coquese Washington told reporters. “She hasn’t practiced. She just was cleared yesterday and she wanted to play. And I thought Nene started to warm up as the game went along. You certainly see their impact in how we need them in the lineup.”

Rutgers turned the ball over 15 times against the Ducks and were without starting 6-foot-3 forward Imani Lester for most of the game due to foul trouble, which further hurt the Knights. It was their second straight game shooting less than 40% from the floor.

RUTGERS (9-12 overall, 1-9 Big Ten) at USC (12-9, 4-6)

When: 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Galen Center

TV/Radio: Big Ten+/USCTrojans.com/Listen