JuJu Watkins dominates late to guide USC to comeback win over Penn State

No. 8 USC women’s basketball was in an offensive rut, similar to one of those that plagued this team far too often last season. The Trojans hadn’t scored in over six minutes in the fourth quarter, allowing Penn State to go on a 14-0 run and take a 70-64 lead.

But USC’s inefficient offense last year didn’t have JuJu Watkins. So, the logical plan for USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb was simple: do your thing, get JuJu the ball and win this thing. And the Trojans did just that.

The freshman guard phenom absolutely took over in the final minutes, scoring the game’s final seven points to lift USC to a 71-70 win over Penn State Wednesday night in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship.

Watkins finished with 31 points on the night on 9-for-20 shooting from the field, plus 11-for-14 at the free throw line. She also added 12 rebounds — giving Watkins her first double-double as a Trojan — and three assists.

“She’s special,” Gottlieb said of Watkins. “There’s no more adjectives I can use.”

Here’s how the final two minutes of the game went, starting with the Trojans trailing by six points after the long scoring drought:

Watkins rebounds her own miss and cashes in a second-chance layup. She then drills a transition 3-pointer a mere 17 seconds later to narrow the deficit to a point. Watkins misses a heat-check jumper with under a minute to go on the next USC possession, but she grabs a huge rebound on the other end of the floor off a Penn State miss while being fouled. Finally, with 30 seconds to go, Watkins drives into the paint and sinks a go-ahead layup.

Now with a lead, the Trojans could go back to ol’ reliable: their defense, which forced a difficult shot by the Lady Lions and then knocked away the ensuing rebound far enough away for the clock to expire.

“I’m as proud of this win as any we’ve had this year,” Gottlieb said. “I’m extremely proud of our fight and our toughness, and I think that’s how we won.”

It was a gutsy win for USC in a game that featured 15 lead changes and nine ties. The Trojans didn’t play their best game against a frisky Penn State squad that also entered the game undefeated — that includes the star Watkins.

USC turned the ball over 20 times Wednesday night, including five during that fourth-quarter scoreless stretch. Those Trojan turnovers turned into 21 points by the Lady Lions, compared to just 10 for USC on 12 Penn State mistakes. Watkins had seven giveaways — a reminder that despite her incredible first few games, she is still a freshman with plenty of room to grow.

“I think it just goes back to the team,” Watkins said of her ability to stay in rhythm. “They put so much trust in me. Even when I’m turning the ball over — tonight wasn’t great for me — but they still believed in me and continued to empower me.”

But, frankly, USC can afford some early errors by Watkins as long as she keeps consistently making jaw-dropping plays. For example, here’s Exhibit A, a half-court buzzer-beater to give the Trojans a 35-34 halftime lead:

Shots like that will make a few turnovers hurt a little less.

“[Watkins] keeps showing me new things,” Gottlieb said. “The most telling thing is how much her teammates freaking love her, because when she gets knocked down and battered, they’re going to play better, because they understand how hard she works and what a great teammate she is.”

Sophomore forward Kylie Lavelle had a big first half for the Lady Lions off the bench, contributing 10 points, including a pair of threes, to help keep the game almost dead even through 20 minutes.

Aside from Watkins, junior center Rayah Marshall had 11 points and 10 rebounds — the 23rd double-double of her career and third of this season. Despite not scoring a point, graduate guard Roxane Makolo had a team-high plus-12 in her 11 minutes off the bench. The TCU transfer played a bigger role in the absence of starting graduate forward Kaitlyn Davis, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

USC also had a strong night behind the arc; graduate guard Kayla Padilla hit a pair of threes in the third quarter to boost the Trojans to a six-point lead. USC was shooting 7-for-11 from range at one point in the second half and finished 9-for-18.

But every time USC tried to creep away, Penn State seemed to respond, thanks in large part to sophomore guard Shay Ciezki and her team-high 18 points and seven rebounds. In fact, the Lady Lions faced their biggest deficit of the game at 64-56 before their 14-0 run in the fourth quarter. In the end, Penn State didn’t have time to counter the Trojans’ final blow from Watkins.

In the Thanksgiving spirit, Watkins shared her gratitude for her family and her team, which both happily paraded out of Baha Mar Convention Center after her late heroics.

USC (5-0) now returns home after two wins in the Bahamas, starting with a matchup against Cal Poly on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Galen Center.