As the clock ran down at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night, signalling the end of No. 8 USC women’s basketball’s bout with No. 2 South Carolina, celebratory chants of “U-S-C” began to echo throughout the stadium.

Those chants came not from Trojan fans, however, but from the Gamecock faithful, who had just witnessed their team deliver a dominant second-half performance en route to a 69-52 victory, claiming the title of “The Real SC” in the first iteration of the appropriately-named series.

While USC (2-1) held its own early on, entering halftime with just a 2-point deficit, the Trojans completely unraveled in the second half against a stacked South Carolina (4-0) squad that outplayed them in nearly every aspect of the game. The 17-point gap marked USC’s largest margin of defeat since losing to Utah by 20 points on Jan. 19, 2024. 

“They destroyed us on the boards. They’re good in transition, and they’re really good defensively,” Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a postgame news conference. “It’s one thing to see it on film, and it’s another thing to experience it.”

Shooting woes permeate USC lineup

After entering Saturday’s game with the lowest field goal percentage of any Big Ten team, USC’s inefficiency hit a low point against the Gamecocks, shooting just 32.8% from the field. That mark was exacerbated by an abysmal 1-for-14 from beyond the arc, the Trojans’ worst single-game 3-point rate since a loss to Oregon State in January 2019.

“52 points [are] not going to win us a lot of games,” Gottlieb said. “I don’t think [the issue] was pace. I think it was a lack of ability to put the ball in the basket.”

USC’s struggles on offense were best exemplified by the two heroes from its stunning comeback victory over No. 10 NC State (2-2) the week before: freshman guard Jazzy Davidson and senior guard Londynn Jones.

After exploding for 18 points in the second half against the Wolfpack, Davidson spent most of the first quarter on the bench after racking up two quick fouls and managed just 8 points all of Saturday night, failing to connect from deep for the second time in her first three games.

Jones, who combined for 35 points across USC’s first two games and entered Saturday shooting 48% on the season, made just two of her 10 shots for a meager 4-point total. She also failed to hit a 3-pointer on four attempts after sinking four treys against NC State.

Instead, it was the duo of sophomore guard Kennedy Smith and senior guard Kara Dunn who led the way. Smith’s 12 points and four assists both led the Trojans, and Dunn notched 10 points of her own — including USC’s only 3-pointer of the game — along with a team-high five rebounds.

However, despite finishing with just 6 points in 28 minutes of playing time, junior guard Malia Samuels was the Trojans’ clutchest shooter of the night.

After hitting a behind-the-back layup midway through the second quarter, Samuels followed it up with another layup to put USC up 28-27 — its only lead of the entire game, and one that would last just 21 seconds. Samuels also threw up a jumper as time expired in the first half to cut the Gamecocks’ lead to 2, attempting in vain to give her team any sort of momentum heading into halftime.

Gamecocks dominate on the glass

South Carolina shared none of the Trojans’ scoring issues, as four different Gamecocks recorded double-digit points — led by sophomore forward Joyce Edwards, who picked up a game-high 17 points in addition to 10 rebounds for her fifth career double-double.

“She’s really lengthy, so even if you feel like you’ve contained the possession, she’s still just slithering to get over the top,” Gottlieb said of Edwards. “She’s excellent.”

Edwards was joined by senior guard Raven Johnson, who notched a double-double of her own with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and senior center Madina Okot, who led her team with 15 boards, to combine for 36 rebounds among the three of them — more than USC’s entire roster at 32.

In total, South Carolina nearly doubled the Trojans’ rebound count with 56, constantly getting second- and third-chance shots in the paint while refusing to let its opponents do the same; USC was simply outmatched against the more physical and aggressive group of Gamecocks.

When asked how the team would overcome the gap in rebounds if given another chance at the matchup, Smith put it bluntly: “Box out.”

“If we don’t come out and execute, that’s on us,” Smith said in a postgame news conference.

Gottlieb hopes loss will help Trojans in long run

Despite the loss, Gottlieb emphasized the importance of facing off with challenging opponents early in the season, saying the Trojans had much to learn after playing the country’s No. 2 team.

“We’re capable of scoring against any kind of team … We wouldn’t know that if we’re blowing someone out by 40,” Gottlieb said. “I’d rather get it handed to us tonight, even though it doesn’t feel good, and understand what we’re capable of doing and getting there eventually.”

USC will need more of that experience if it hopes to make another deep NCAA Tournament run, and the road doesn’t get any easier from here; amid a sea of highly-ranked teams on the schedule, the Trojans still await a December matchup with the No. 1 University of Connecticut (4-0) as well as two regular-season bouts with crosstown rival No. 3 UCLA (5-0).

Before then, however, USC will return to Galen Center to face the University of Portland (2-1) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.