After missing No. 16 women’s basketball’s win over Pepperdine University on Friday, junior guard Malia Samuels returned to USC’s starting lineup Tuesday for its nonconference bout with Saint Mary’s College.

Though Samuels missed the Trojans’ (6-2) previous game with what Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb called a “nagging injury,” she didn’t appear to miss a beat as she flew around the court, headlining a defense that terrorized the Gaels (5-4) early on.

After Saint Mary’s won the tipoff, Samuels secured the first of her four steals in a limited 15 minutes of play, took the ball down the court and dished to an open senior guard Kara Dunn, who knocked down a 3-pointer. The next play, Samuels got right back at it with another steal.

“I’m holding my breath every time she went to the floor,” Gottlieb said in a postgame news conference. “But she does what she does; she facilitated. She gives us a boost of energy.”

That kind of effort on the defensive end, which resulted in 28 Trojan points on 29 Gael turnovers — many of which came from their 16 steals — propelled USC to a dominant 79-33 win at Galen Center that extended its winning streak to three games heading into its first conference matchup of the season Sunday. 

The Trojans’ dominance was put on especially full display during the second quarter, where they went on a 21-0 run over about nine minutes of play while shooting at their best clip of the night at 7-for-12 and forcing nine of their opponent’s turnovers.

“I think we made them look rougher than they are,” Gottlieb said. “This was a good one.”

Jones, Dunn lead the way on offense

With Samuels back in the starting lineup, senior guard Londynn Jones was pushed back into the sixth-woman role after starting Friday, though her 21 minutes were still USC’s fourth most and more than Samuels’ 15. 

However, the bench role is where Jones has thrived so far this season, a trend that continued Tuesday.

Jones finished the night with a game-high 17 points, including three treys, on 5-of-12 shooting to go along with four steals. Despite primarily coming off the bench, Jones has racked up the fourth-most minutes on the team — only behind Dunn, freshman guard Jazzy Davidson and sophomore guard Kennedy Smith — and has the third-most points on the team while shooting at over 40%.

Dunn, who has been USC’s most-efficient scorer thus far, added 15 of her own on 5-of-8 shooting Tuesday to push her season-wide shooting percentage above 50%. She also added five rebounds, two assists and three steals.

During USC’s dominant second-quarter run, Davidson, Jones, Dunn, sophomore forward Vivian Iwuchukwu and junior forward Gerda Raulušaityte each contributed to multiple scoring plays, creating a balanced Trojan attack.

“There’s a lot of people with a varied skill set, and it’s going to be tough to stop a group that’s connected and united and can do a lot of different things,” Gottlieb said of her group. “We should be better in January than we were in December … because we’ve got so many young, new pieces coming together.”

As part of a committee at the forward position, Iwuchukwu, Raulušaityte and sophomore Dayana Mendes all played between 14 and 16 minutes Tuesday. While Iwuchukwu earned the start, her fifth of the season, it was Raulušaityte, who has started three games, that played the most minutes of the group.

However, Iwuchukwu, who is shooting an impressive 67% from the field so far this season, was highly effective in the paint Tuesday, scoring the team’s fourth-most points with 9 on 3-for-5 shooting and three steals. Raulušaityte, the only other Trojan with a more efficient clip than Dunn this season, made both of her shots from the field Tuesday.

‘Other teams should watch out’ for Davidson

Davidson, now a two-time Big Ten Rookie of the Week after earning the honor again last week, struggled with efficiency early on, especially from beyond the arc. However, she bounced back near the end of her game-high 33 minutes to finish with 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, 2-for-9 from 3-point land. 

While her efficiency has been a question mark so far this season, especially with a 24% 3-point mark, Davidson is still leading USC with a stellar 16 points per game and is developing into her five-star potential.

“There’s not a lot of things she cannot do on the basketball court,” Gottlieb said. “Other teams should watch out when she even gets more reps under her belt because she just wants to continue to get better.”

Despite offensive struggles, Davidson found other ways to contribute Tuesday, filling out the stat sheet with four rebounds, three blocks and a steal. Davidson also set a career-high in assists with six as the only player to dish more than two during the game.

“My teammates, they’re shot makers. So that really helps a lot,” Davidson said in a postgame news conference. “All credit to them.”

While slightly less dominant than the second quarter, USC held Saint Mary’s to just 7 points in the fourth quarter, with multiple bench players getting a chance to come into the game. The Gaels only made two shots from the field during the final period, helping drag the team’s overall shooting percentage down to 27%. Saint Mary’s struggled even more mightily from beyond the arc, making just 2-of-13 attempts throughout the game.

Despite the lackluster competition, both Dunn and Davidson said it is important for the team not to take any opponents lightly and use less competitive games to clean up technique and get full-speed reps.

“We focus on every single game when it comes, but I think that we’re working on making sure that our execution is really good and that we’re giving all of our effort in every single play,” Dunn said in a postgame news conference. “Games like this are really important. … There’s no reason that we shouldn’t be very efficient with it.”

Now, the Trojans will prepare for their Big Ten opener against No. 21 Washington (8-0) on Sunday, before they close out their nonconference schedule with two games and a tournament after Fall 2025 classes end. Tipoff with the Huskies is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Galen Center.