Sights and sounds from the defensive battle for the ‘real SC’ 

This wasn’t the high-flying, offensive showcase that many hoped for. Instead, it was a gritty, physical showdown that saw the Trojans fight for every bucket, with extended scoring droughts that ultimately proved too much to overcome. 

The crowd of over 8,000 people — which filed into Crypto.com Arena slowly but surely on an uncharacteristically rainy Los Angeles night — leaned in favor of the visiting Gamecocks, emphasized by a massive cheer when head coach Dawn Staley exited the tunnel to start the game. The only near equivalent cheer came when the jumbotron showed Trojan sophomore JuJu Watkins, who is sidelined with an ACL tear. 

And to play in front of 8,000 people without their crowd-drawing star in Watkins demonstrated that women’s basketball in Los Angeles is still on the upswing. “I don’t really do opening [statements],” Coach Staley said to reporters following the game, “but I have to do an opening. Just the organization, the companies that poured into this game. It takes a lot of money to put women’s basketball on this stage, on TV, on national television. […] They could have said no. They could have said, this is a bad idea. They could have said, we can’t get it done. But when we had people like them pouring into women’s basketball, it was a great game between two teams that were trying to win a basketball game. But I think today, women’s basketball won for all the people that poured into our sport. We’re looked upon as a sport now, and it feels really good to be supported in that way.” 

The opening quarter predicted the remainder of the game: Southern California struggled to find any offensive rhythm while South Carolina’s defense suffocated nearly every attempt. Every shot looked difficult for the Trojans, who managed just 16 points in the frame while committing four turnovers to South Carolina’s zero. 

The first half felt far scrappier than the box score indicated, with both teams spending significant time on the floor battling for loose balls. The difference was that South Carolina seemed to thrive in the chaos, while Southern California looked disjointed. The battle for each rebound and loose ball demonstrated the Trojans’ grit and fight, but after the ball bounced hand-to-hand, it almost always ended up in the hands of the Gamecocks, and more often than not in the hands of sophomore standout Joyce Edwards. She finished the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds, as well as 2 steals and 2 blocks, challenging the Trojans with her length and composure, remaining calm and making shots look easy that seemed to be hard for everyone else on the floor. At one point, she lost a shoe, which ended up in the hands of Dawn Staley, who threw it back to her at the next dead ball, which didn’t come as quickly as she probably wanted it to. 

“Coach already told me that I can affect the floor on both ends, very, very dramatically,” said Edwards following the game. “So I just, I just go out there and just try to do the best I can. At the end of the day, I know my role, and I understand my responsibilities, and when I don’t do that, how it impacts the team, so I just try to do the best of my ability.” 

The biggest blow came early when top recruit and Southern California freshman Jazzy Davidson picked up two quick fouls, forcing her to the bench and leaving the Trojans without one of their most reliable offensive threats. Without her on the floor, South Carolina’s lead felt larger than the four point differential to end the first quarter. 

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In the second quarter, Southern California cleaned up on offense, this time committing zero in the frame compared to South Carolina’s six, and matched the Gamecocks’ defensive intensity. The scoring remained low (14-12), favoring the Trojans’ slightly grittier, defensive approach. The half ended with a Malia Samuels buzzer-beater that gave Southern California the momentum and breathed some life into a fairly quiet home crowd before heading into the locker room.

Unfortunately for Coach Gottlieb’s team, those locker room adjustments didn’t translate to the third quarter. The Trojans came out flat, matching South Carolina’s pace but lacking the execution to finish in breakneck speed. South Carolina controlled the paint, with strong work by Madina Okot, who finished the game with 15 rebounds and playing a whopping 35 minutes. She stifled all Southern California’s attempts in the paint, disrupting rhythm in a way that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. 

“I am going to give a lot of credit to Medina,” Staley said. “She just really controlled the paint. She was where we needed her to be, time and time again and and she needed it, just from a confidence standpoint, and knowing that we need her and knowing that she can, she can execute a game plan, and I think she’s part of us finding our identity.” 

Coming into the game, Southern California’s offense had benefited from strong recent performances from Jazzy Davidson and Londynn Jones, who were both averaging 17.5 points through the team’s first two games. But Davidson’s early foul trouble cast a long shadow over her entire performance — seemingly impacting her confidence and rhythm early on (despite a long pep talk from Watkins on the sideline), and lasting through the game. 

One offensive bright spot was Georgia Tech transfer Kara Dunn, who scored 10 points for the Trojans, all of which came on highly contested, challenging buckets. “I value being the person my team needs me to be,” Dunn said after the game. “Coach Lindsay’s mindset, the way she thinks about certain things, putting players in certain spots, she knows our strengths. It will only go up from here.” 

The final score came down to offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities: areas where South Carolina dominated due to their length and athleticism. The Gamecocks crashed the glass relentlessly, turning missed shots into additional possessions while the Trojans couldn’t generate the same energy on the boards. The physicality of the game — only 22 free throws were taken total by the end of the game — benefited the Gamecocks, and by the end, it simply didn’t feel close. 

This matchup was a difficult one for the Trojans, who showed some of their cards on Saturday. This isn’t going to be a flashy, run-and-gun team. They’re going to be a grittier team this year that relies on defensive intensity and scrappy play. The problem Saturday wasn’t effort or physicality; rather, it was execution down the stretch, particularly from their young star, Davidson, who couldn’t quite find a rhythm against elite competition.

Kennedy Smith, when asked about her evolving role on a JuJu-less team this year, said “Obviously, last year we had a whole bunch of vets. So, this year, I think I came in as a vet myself, still being a rookie. So… [using] my voice in practice is something that has been challenging for me. Last year, I didn’t have to talk as much because we had [Rayah Marshall] and Kiki [Iriafen] and now I have to talk a lot in practice and step up my offense game consistently with defense. So, trying to be better for my team is something that I’m going to be more consistent with.”

Losing to the No. 2 team in the country by single digits while dealing with both early foul trouble and extended scoring droughts is far from devastating. In fact, Coach Gottlieb told media after the game “I think it’s easier to figure out how to get really good when we’re challenged. We learned a lot of things about ourselves against NC State. I think we’ll learn, hopefully, equally, if not more, tonight, about what we can be really good at. And what we need to get a lot better at, but it is a process we have. We have [kind of] everyone doing something new.” That said, a loss like this does expose areas where USC must improve, particularly offensive consistency and composure against elite defenses.

For South Carolina, the game proved that their No. 2 ranking isn’t just based on reputation and historical success. It’s deserved: suffocating defense, relentless rebounding, and the kind of composure that comes from championship experience. 

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