Koi Love heaved a ball to an unguarded Destiny Littleton. The former NCAA champion took a deep breath and fired a clean shot into the net. Galen Center filled with the sounds of “oohs” as Littleton raised three fingers into the air and made a circle with the other two.
Littleton scored 19 points with 15 coming from behind the 3-point line in a convincing 75-42 Trojan victory against the Idaho State Bengals.
“What she brings to this team is her leadership, her six assists and her steadiness,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “She’s a winner, and she has a really complete game.”
The graduate guard got hot right out of the gate, receiving a shovel pass from junior guard Kayla Williams and launching a 3-pointer to put the Trojans up 5-0 in the first quarter.
Littleton helped the Trojans pull away in the second quarter. With USC’s lead at 21-13, junior forward Koi Love rebounded the ball off the rim before firing a pass to Littleton on the outside.
Littleton splashed a dagger into the net. The Bengals never got as close as nine points for the rest of the game.
The Trojans had a strong supporting staff to help Littleton’s efforts. Sophomore guard Bella Perkins shot 50% from beyond the arc and contributed 15 points. Overall, the Trojans shot 40% from 3-point range, hitting a program-high 14 3-pointers.
“I knew that our posts would be doubled-up this game because a lot of the focus has been on them,” Perkins said. “So, when a guy kicked out, I was locked in, ready to shoot.”
Graduate forward Kadi Sissoko dropped 14 points against Idaho State after recording 15 in USC’s previous game against CSU Bakersfield. The triumvirate of Perkins, Sissoko and Littleton scored over half of the Trojans’ points against the Bengals.
“I was locked in at practice, but my teammates helped me out on the floor,” Sissoko said. “It was one of those days where shots were falling, but I think it was a great team effort.”
The Trojans’ defense shined in Galen Center, forcing 27 turnovers and keeping the Bengals under 50 points. USC scored 29 points off turnovers compared to Idaho State’s 11.
“Our mentality heading into this game was to just pressure Idaho State,” Gottlieb said. “[Associate head coach Beth Burns] has done a great job instilling a toughness defensively in our players. We have to keep getting better, but I think [the players] understood that we were trying to disrupt the team, and that’s what they did.”
The Trojans will travel down I-5 to face San Diego on Tuesday. The Toreros are 2-0 and are coming off a 57-47 win against Portland State.
“[The Toreros] are always tough,” Gottlieb said. “I imagine they’ll do some different presses because that’s what they always do. But we’ve just got to keep working on us because that will be the key.”