Entering Thursday night’s matchup, USC and Wisconsin found themselves on trajectories about as far apart as they could have been. The Trojans had won five games in a row, their longest streak of the season, to catapult themselves out of a brutal stretch of losses and firmly back into NCAA Tournament contention. Meanwhile, the Badgers had lost six straight and nine of their last 11, plummeting out of the postseason picture after a strong start.

However, the opening of Thursday’s game seemed to prove that, regardless of momentum, all teams are created equal — in this case, equally bad at shooting. USC and Wisconsin shot a combined 2-for-22 through the first four and a half minutes, and even as more shots began to fall, the score sat at just 14-11 after the first quarter.

Though both squads found their strides later on, the Trojans (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) found theirs first, shooting 50% in each of the middle two quarters and forcing the Badgers (13-14, 5-11) to play catch-up for the rest of the night. In the end, USC defeated Wisconsin 66-59, extending its season-best winning streak to six.

Much of the Trojans’ offensive surge came by way of freshman guard Jazzy Davidson, who scored 24 points on 8-for-13 shooting for her fourth 20-piece in as many games. Davidson added six assists, four steals and three blocks in a dominant all-around performance.

Toward the end of the fourth quarter, Davidson seemingly injured her leg on a hard foul and needed to be carried off the court; she did not return to the game. In a postgame news conference, Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said that Davidson exited with a cramp but had not suffered any serious injury.

The only other Trojan to score double digits was senior guard Kara Dunn, who racked up 14 points on a 5-for-15 clip to go along with seven rebounds. Dunn has cooled down slightly since an impressive run to start the new year that saw her score 20 points in seven consecutive games, but she remains one of USC’s top shooters — especially from deep, where she sank half of the Trojans’ six 3-pointers.

Redshirt freshman forward Laura Williams earned a spot in the lineup for the fourth straight game, further solidifying her status as Gottlieb’s go-to forward after spending much of the season competing with junior Gerda Raulušaityte and sophomore Vivian Iwuchukwu for the starting role. Williams brought down a career-high 14 boards and blocked four shots, both of which led the Trojans.

As the regular season nears its end, USC finds itself sitting much more comfortably in the projected NCAA Tournament field than it did a month ago, with ESPN’s Charlie Creme slotting the Trojans in as a No. 8 seed prior to Thursday’s game. Though a bid is far from guaranteed, Gottlieb’s squad can likely secure a place in March with another win in its final three games.

USC will have two chances for said win during its final road trip before the Big Ten Tournament. The Trojans will get a major test in the form of No. 10 Ohio State (22-5, 11-4) on Sunday at 11 a.m., followed by a matchup with Penn State (9-17, 2-13) on Wednesday at 3 p.m.