After consecutive defeats at the hands of ranked Pac-12 opponents, USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb was worried her team would have low morale and play poorly against Cal. But the Trojans were able to impress their coach with a resounding 63-43 victory over the Golden Bears (10-6, 1-4 in Pac-12 play) at Galen Center.
“It was a character test tonight,” Gottlieb said. “I thought our players just were a really good version of themselves.”
The Trojans started off the game with 13 straight points in part because of redshirt freshman guard Taylor Bigby, who scored eight of the points in the six-minute long scoring run for USC. Four of those points came from the free-throw line as Bigby was relentlessly attacking the rim at the beginning of the game.
Bigby started the game in place of the leading scorer for USC, graduate forward Kadi Sissoko, who has now missed three straight games with a leg injury. Gottlieb has been impressed with the way members of her team have played during the absence of a player who averages 15.3 points per game.
“That’s when we’re going to be at our best: when we can have multiple weapons,” Gottlieb said. “We know we got a pretty good one sitting out right now, so it’s only going to make us stronger when [Sissoko] comes back.”
Gottlieb also added that Sissoko is now ‘day-to-day.’
The Trojans led by 19 at halftime in part because they dominated the offensive boards, recording 10 offensive rebounds in the first half alone. The team only finished with 13 offensive boards, but Gottlieb was still impressed with the rebounding performance by her team.
“We’ve talked about asserting ourselves on the boards,” Gottlieb said. “It’s always a focus to box out, keep the other team off the boards, and hey, how about we make them call a timeout.”
Sophomore forward Rayah Marshall was a key piece in the rebounding effort, securing 11 total rebounds, three of which were offensive rebounds. Marshall scored 17 points to go along with her boards, achieving her ninth double-double of the year.
“For me, it is just about coming out, dominating and doing whatever is necessary,” Marshall said. “Even if I have to play point guard, I just want to win after 40 minutes.”
Marshall’s 17 points were the second highest on the team as graduate guard Destiny Littleton scored 18 points of her own. Littleton was able to right the ship for the Trojans in the second half as they allowed Cal to score 19 points in the third quarter.
Littleton’s 14 second-half points matched the number of points the Golden Bears scored in the first half as a team, helping the Trojans keep their lead.
“Throughout these games, I don’t even press to score,” Littleton said. “I really get off with getting my teammates involved and just being a leader out on the court. The points happen because they were good basketball plays.”
The Trojans only extended their halftime lead by one point in the second half, in part because they allowed eight points off turnovers in the second half. Overall, USC committed 17 turnovers, which is now the third game in a row with at least 17 turnovers.
“We’ve turned it over too much all year,” Gottlieb said. “We’ve just got to keep working. And that’s why we think that our growth trajectory is high because there are still some things — a lot of things — we can get better at.”
Along with the win, the Trojans also celebrated Legacy Night, which featured Legacy Gold uniforms to pay homage to former players who donned the Cardinal and Gold.
“They’re fire,” Littleton said about the jerseys. “We have some of the best jerseys in the nation.”
USC hopes to bring its best game to accompany the ‘best jerseys in the nation’ when the Trojans play No. 2 Stanford, their third ranked opponent in the past two weeks, on Jan. 15 at Galen Center.
“Our focus all week has been Cal,” Gottlieb said. “Now we’ll turn our focus to Stanford. We’ll have to get ready and bring what we can bring and challenge ourselves against one of the best teams out there.”