NFL
By: Kevin Lucas
After a cross-country flight, losing the rebounding battle by 14, and trailing by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter, USC dug down deep to knock off a highly touted NC State squad in Charlotte. The Women of Troy ended up winning this top 25 matchup 69-68 in a game that saw Jazzy Davidson absolutely fill up the stat sheet and put the nation on notice. Offensively, this game started slow, but you could tell the size of NC State’s front-court between Khamil Pierre and Tilda Trygger would be an issue all game. Pierre is one of the most gifted post players at the college level, yet both Kara Dunn and Kennedy Smith did a great job of making her settle for tough midrange jumpers. The Wolfpack’s guard duo of Zoe Brooks and Zamareya Jones kept the Trojans’ defense on their heels, but USC did not flinch whatsoever.
SC’s senior transfer duo of Londynn Jones and Kara Dunn kept the offense steady in the first half when shots weren’t falling. Unfortunately, Dunn was limited in this game due to foul trouble, but Jones stayed aggressive and allowed her teammates to settle in. The third quarter is where the pace of this game picked up, and Jazzy decided to show the world exactly who she is and has always been. Davidson scored 13 of the Trojans’ 17 third-quarter points, and each bucket got tougher as she went on. Whether it was strong drives to the rim, midrange jumpers, or 3’s from distance, it didn’t matter; Jazzy was in a zone that only she herself could snap out of. Even with Davidson’s third-quarter barrage, NC State took its largest lead of the game at 11 with just 9:48 left in the game after a Zoe Brooks old-fashioned 3-point play.
What happened next was USC trusting in their defensive principles and playing unselfish basketball on the other end of the floor. Kennedy Smith, after a rough shooting game, responded with a couple of isolation buckets to regain momentum in USC’s favor. Smith, Jazzy, and Malia Samuels set the tone defensively in the final 4 minutes of the game, and NC State really had no answers for them. The Trojans ended the game with back-to-back steals from Samuels and Smith and earned themselves a top-10 win on the road in Wolfpack country. With all of the moving pieces and players stepping into new roles, this is a huge win for Lindsay Gottlieb’s team. There is plenty of room for growth, but having good size and communication on defense is a great foundation to build off of. The Women of Troy are back in action Saturday, November 15th, at Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as Staples Center), where they will host Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks.
