This story was updated at 4:16 p.m. PST with quotes.
The Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament continued Saturday with semifinal action between No. 1-seeded USC and freshmen-led No. 5-seeded Michigan. The Wolverines upset the No. 4-seeded Maryland Terrapins 98-71 on Friday to advance and face the top-seeded Trojans.
It was a slow start for both teams offensively as each struggled to read the opposing defense. The Wolverines took advantage of the lull in Trojan scoring, putting together an 8-0 run to go up 10-6. They were briefly quieted by threes from USC freshman guards Avery Howell and Kennedy Smith; however, a buzzer beater three from freshman guard Syla Swords gave Michigan a 15-12 lead to end the first quarter.
“I’m on the Canadian national team with [Swords], so I’ve known her for a while,” Howell said. “I think she plays with a lot of heart, a lot of passion.”
Both sides picked up the physicality in the second frame, as players sacrificed their bodies taking charges and diving for loose balls on both ends of the floor. Graduate forward Kiki Iriafen was a dominant offensive force for the Trojans, notching six points and three offensive rebounds in the period. But USC couldn’t contain a streaking Michigan offense, and back-to-back threes from senior guard Jordan Hobbs gave the Wolverines their largest lead at 27-18.
The Trojans started clawing back thanks to a three from Smith and a couple of hard-fought buckets in the post from senior center Rayah Marshall. The matchup was Marshall’s return to action after being sidelined for Friday’s game due to illness. She scored less than two minutes into the game and majorly impacted Michigan’s interior play, adding nine points on the day.
USC didn’t have an answer for Swords, however, who finished the half with 14 points and four rebounds. Despite this, defensive intensity kept the Trojans competitive. Sophomore guard Malia Samuels was particularly impressive, with a block and steal on back-to-back possessions and another steal later in the frame.
“I know my role coming off the bench. I’m in there to make a run go or start defense,” Samuels said. “If we’re up 20, down 20, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Despite getting only four points from star sophomore guard JuJu Watkins, USC closed the gap and went into the halftime break down only 31-29.
Scoring picked up in the third as the Wolverines got out to a 42-36 lead early. Watkins eventually started looking more comfortable on the offensive end and Iriafen showcased her post dominance, scoring eight straight points to give USC its first lead since being up 6-5 in the first. She finished with 12 of the Trojans’ 24 points in the quarter.
“With [Watkins] and [Iriafen] in particular, it’s not just their talent,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “They just have a fierce, kind of competitive will about them and go ahead and make plays that you can’t really script.”
The Trojans brought a 53-52 lead into the fourth and continued feeding Iriafen, who finished the night with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Samuels continued her impressive night off the bench, driving to the cup and completing a three-point play to give USC its largest lead of the night so far at 65-60 with just under five minutes remaining.
Suddenly, the once-stagnant Trojan offense exploded.
It was the Watkins and Howell show as the pair went nuclear to close the game. Watkins sank two free throws, and Howell splashed a three on the next possession. An and-one opportunity from Howell resulted in another three points, and then it was Watkins’ turn at the line. An acrobatic layup from Howell capped off the USC run, giving the team a 76-62 advantage with 2:44 left to play. From there, the Trojans were able to run the clock out and take home the 82-70 win.
“I think the will to win has been there,” Gottlieb said. “Now there’s probably more of a connectivity and synergy amongst the group of what it takes to get stops together and to score points together and to have just sort of some energy and athleticism at the end of the game that separates us.”
In what felt like a slow game for Watkins, she still finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Howell contributed 11 points, and Smith ended the night with nine points and two steals.
USC played its Big Ten premiere against Michigan back on December 29, coming away with a dominant win in its first win against the Wolverines in program history. The Trojans outscored Michigan 44-27 in the second half of that game en route to a 78-58 victory. Though Saturday’s matchup saw a more even offensive effort, the Trojans’ second half surge was again vital to the win.
USC moves on to the final round of play to face the winner of the later matchup between No. 2-seeded UCLA and No. 3-seeded Ohio State.