USC traveled to State College, Pennsylvania on Wednesday night for its final road game of the regular season against Penn State.
According to ESPN Charlie Creme’s Bracketology, the Trojans are currently projected as No. 7 in the NCAA tournament. They have won six of their last seven games entering the matchup and were looking to avenge their Sunday night loss to Ohio State in a hard-fought game.
The game started off fast, with freshman standout guard Jazzy Davidson opening up the scoring with a play-designed three. Senior guard Kara Dunn followed with a corner three to get the Trojans off to a 6-0 start. That wouldn’t last long however as Penn State star sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller showed off her range hitting a deep logo three. She would hit three 3-pointers in the quarter along with a pair of mid-range shots, one of which was a buzzer beater to finish with 13 points in the first.
USC sophomore guard Kennedy Smith matched McMiller’s intensity and shooting, hitting multiple threes and tallying 11 points in the quarter. The Trojans escaped the quarter with a narrow two-point lead at 26-24.
In the second quarter, Davidson started off the same way she did in the first with an impressive three. Dunn would also come alive, hitting two threes and providing the key veteran leadership that the Trojans need.
There was still no stopping McMiller as she remained hot doing everything for the Nittany Lions. She finished the half with 22 points and was on pace to break her career high of 37 points, which she set in the game prior against Rutgers. Penn State did a good job sticking with the Trojans, but USC finished the half off strong with three Jazzy Davidson free throws to put her at 15 points at the half.
To start off the third, Penn State did a better job moving the ball and getting it to their 6-foot-6 junior post Gracie Merkle who finished a layup strong to start off the Nittany Lions scoring. USC responded by going on a 7-0 run, making the score 56-44 and giving Davidson 20 points on the night. Although the Nittany Lions looked lifeless, a 3-pointer from freshman guard Tia Cliante sparked their energy and prompted an 8-0 run for Penn State. McMiller would cap off that run with a deep three giving her 30 points on the night in a quarter where she reached the milestone of scoring 1000 career points.
In the final quarter, Penn State couldn’t miss and with a Merkle layup, the Nittany Lions took its first lead of the game 68-67. The game was back-and-forth from there, but a McMiller pull-up jumpshot to give her 38 points on the night and extend the lead to five gave Penn State all of the momentum. Dunn knocked down two late threes, but it was too little too late as the Trojans dropped their second straight game.
After the game, USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb spoke to the media briefly, giving “credit to them, but a very bad loss for us.” Indeed it was for the Trojans, as the Nittany Lions ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten conference (ranked 16th out of 18 teams) but have started to pick up the momentum late in the season.
Gottlieb also acknowledged the struggle to defend the “pick and roll [where Kiyomi] McMiller shot off of it a lot of times and most of them went in.”It was a struggle on the defensive end for the Trojans as they allowed McMiller to achieve a career-high 40 points. Despite the scoring efforts of the Trojans’ star players, with Dunn having 24 points, Davidson scoring 22, and Smith adding 19, it wasn’t enough to pull out a win in their final road game of the regular season.
Penn State needed to win this game to keep its season alive as only the top 15 teams in the Big Ten make the conference tournament. USC will look to bounce back from these losses with its final game of the regular season against crosstown rival UCLA at Galen Center on March 1.