USC women basketball stuns No. 8 Iowa in a huge

At the bitter end of a brutal January, Kennedy Smith put her head down, decided to will her approach to the ring. All month long, USC pale in the most unlucky moments, letting video games get away from them. There was the 16-point lead misplaced in Ann Arbor. The irritating remaining 5 minutes against Oregon. The seven fourth-quarter turnovers at Minnesota. And so on.

The Trojans had misplaced six of their last seven coming into 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 checklist, Smith, the Trojans’ emotional chief, took issues into her palms.

She drove once, then again, then again. Four instances in a matter of two minutes, the relentless Smith attacked the ring, carrying the weight of USC’s weeks-long droop on her shoulders as she did. When she finally let up, the Trojans have been properly out in entrance again, rolling from there to an 81-69 victory.

The Hawkeyes (18-3 total, 9-1 Big Ten) had not misplaced in Big Ten play coming into Thursday, while Gottlieb’s Trojans had struggled to discover a foothold in the convention. But it all finally got here together at Galen Center in what was arguably USC’s best sport to date, an upset that might flip the tide of the Trojans’ season.

Gottlieb said after the sport that she felt a single win like Thursday’s might spark a turnaround.

Nevertheless, she said, “right now, this was really, really needed.”

That the decisive stretch got here courtesy of Smith felt all the more becoming, contemplating how she began the sport. The sophomore opened one of eight from the ground. At halftime, Gottlieb grabbed her: “Keep attacking,” she said.

Smith took that halftime advice to coronary heart, scoring eight of her 12 factors in that single stretch. But she was only one side of the Trojans’ instantly potent offensive assault.

Kara Dunn once again led the best way, scoring 25 — good for her seventh straight sport with 21 factors or more. Freshman Jazzy Davidson wasn’t far behind, pouring in 21 factors while including eight assists and 4 rebounds.

The ball moved a lot better in common for USC’s offense than it had at any level in the earlier month. The Trojans turned the ball over just 5 instances, 4 fewer than their earlier low, while tallying 23 assists, which was two fewer than their season high.

It felt like a glimpse, for one evening 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.”

USC gamers (from left) Kara Dunn, Jazzy Davidson, Brooklyn Shamblin, Dayana Mendes and Malia Samuels rejoice after the Trojans’ 81-69 win Thursday.

(Melina Pizano / Getty Images)

It’ll be up to USC to show that during a stretch forward that needs to be a bit smoother than the past month. But it might have to courageous that stretch without Vivian Iwuchukwu, who appeared to injure her leg in the second half.

The Trojans flew out to an early lead on the heels of their three-point capturing, which largely failed them since the start of Big Ten season. They shot under 30% from deep during that stretch of 9 video games, while also capturing the second-most three-pointers of any group in the convention.

That capturing droop instantly ended early Thursday. USC hit 5 three-pointers in the first 10 minutes, its most in any quarter this season. By the end of the opening quarter, the Trojans led 28-13.

Iowa rallied rapidly in the second, hitting 5 three-pointers to cut the Trojans’ halftime lead to just six. At one level, in the third quarter, the Hawkeyes drew within three.

That was as close as they obtained. USC made 9 of its next 11 pictures, while Iowa didn’t hit another perimeter shot until the fourth quarter. By then, USC had buried them too deeply.

Whether the win might be enough for the Trojans to make up the ground they misplaced over the last month stays to be seen. But as Gottlieb addressed the group after the sport, her gamers burst into spontaneous celebration, flinging water at their coach and soaking in the afterglow of their greatest victory of the season.

“It really means everything,” Davidson said. “We really felt like we needed this win.”