Like any team with a superstar at its center, USC women’s basketball sees the most success when its best player — freshman guard Jazzy Davidson — is at the top of her game. In the regular season, the Trojans were 9-4 when Davidson scored at least 20 points and 10-4 when she shot better than 40%. Those records dropped to 0-6 when she scored 12 or fewer and 1-5 when she topped out at 30%.

Fighting for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, USC (17-13, 9-9 Big Ten) desperately needed the former version of Davidson in its Big Ten Tournament matchup with Washington (21-9, 10-8) on Thursday morning. Instead, it got the latter: Just days after being named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, a seemingly injured Davidson suffered the worst performance of her collegiate career, scoring 8 points on an abysmal 2-for-13 clip as the Trojans went down 76-64.

The star freshman’s play was likely impacted by what appeared to be an arm injury sustained in the first quarter; Davidson played through the injury for most of the game before being shut down early in the fourth quarter. After the game, Davidson said she would be getting an MRI on her shoulder, though her exact status is unclear.

“It’s definitely something in the back of your mind when you can’t lift one of your arms,” Davidson said in a postgame news conference. “I just wanted to still try to impact the game.”

Regardless of the reason for her off day, however, the result was certain: a loss for the Trojans — to a Washington team they had previously beaten in December — and a one-and-done exit from their conference tournament. The Huskies commanded both ends of the court and led by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter, only letting up on their stalwart defense once victory had been all but secured.

After a six-game winning streak in early February that saw USC emerge from a midseason slump, the Trojans once again find themselves stuck in the loss column: Thursday marked their fourth defeat in a row. Without any further chances to prove itself before Selection Sunday, USC needs to hope that its regular-season resume — including a top-25 NET ranking and a marquee win over No. 9 Iowa (24-5, 15-3) — will be enough to earn its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament nod.

“You usually get what you earn,” Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a postgame news conference. “We earned our way into the 8-9 game here, and we’ll do the same with the NCAA Tournament.”

Trojans can’t catch up to Howell’s Huskies

Both squads had a lethargic start in the first quarter, making just five combined baskets that resulted in an 8-6 Washington lead after 10 minutes. While the Huskies managed to heat up down the stretch, shooting over 50% for the rest of the game, the Trojans did not, averaging under 36%.

Though the former Pac-12 opponents fared similarly from 3-point range, Washington vastly outperformed USC from the field, shooting 50% to the Trojans’ 31%. That disparity largely resulted from the Huskies’ domination in the paint, where they scored a staggering 40 points.

“We have a lot of things we want to improve on,” Davidson said. “It’s March. From here, it’s one and done.”

Washington was also a force on the glass, outrebounding USC, 44-27 — a charge that was led by none other than sophomore guard Avery Howell, who spent last season with the Trojans before transferring to the Huskies. Howell came up just short of a double-double, racking up 18 points and nine rebounds against her former squad.

Much of Washington’s production also came from senior guard Elle Ladine, who dropped 25 points on an efficient 10-for-13 clip — a substantial improvement from the Huskies’ last meeting with USC, where she was held scoreless on 10 attempts.

Inconsistency plagues USC lineup

Without Davidson’s typical level of production, the entire Trojan offense struggled. Senior guard Kara Dunn attempted just four shots all day, her fewest since joining USC, making two for a meager 6-point total.

Sophomore guard Kennedy Smith fared slightly better, notching 14 points while grabbing three steals, but she had difficulty shooting the 3-ball, hitting just one of her seven attempts.

In the end, the Trojans’ leading scorer was senior guard Londynn Jones, who finished with 19 points — though 16 of them came in fourth-quarter garbage time, when the Huskies had effectively put the game away already. An effective 3-point shooter all season, Jones put up a season-high 12 tries from deep, draining three; she also sank eight free throws, more than twice as many as any other USC player.

Redshirt freshman forward Laura Williams earned her eighth-straight start and made the most of it, falling a single point short of her first collegiate double-double. Williams recorded 13 rebounds and a career-high 9 points; she now has the most offensive boards of any Trojan despite ranking sixth in minutes played.

Though USC failed to make much noise in the Big Ten Tournament after reaching its conference final in each of the previous two seasons, the loss isn’t likely to make much of a difference. Before Thursday, ESPN’s Charlie Creme projected the Trojans as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and a loss to one of the Big Ten’s stronger teams shouldn’t damage their resume enough to knock them out entirely.

“We’re not worried about whoever we play in March Madness,” Jones said in a postgame news conference. “We have to step up and show out what we are capable of doing.”

USC will have to wait until March 15 to learn its tournament fate, when the official bracket will be announced in the NCAA’s selection show starting at 5 p.m.