The USC Trojans won their second straight game, beating the Pepperdine Waves 82–52 at Galen Center on Friday.
Both teams had a slow scoring momentum in the first quarter with multiple missed shots, but the No. 18 Trojans (5–2) used aggressive defense to secure an 11-point lead.
“Our defensive point of attack was really good,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “I think Kennedy [Smith] is really elite as a disrupter and I thought everyone else fed off of her, and so it helped us to kind of change the tempo of the game when it was a little tight there in the first quarter. I thought we did a pretty good job defending the three-point line as a team. … I thought we pushed the ball well and because of that we shot it well.”
Gottlieb said the team focused on executing its game plan.
“We wanted to hold them under 30% from three. We did that,” she said. “We wanted to turn them over a bunch. We did that. And I thought we shared the ball great — 27 assists on 31 baskets is exceptional and I’m happy with a good team effort. We’re still in a place where we want to keep getting better, but you want to be able to build on one step forward and make it two or three in a row.”
Trojans guard Jazzy Davidson opened the second quarter with a three-pointer, followed by a layup from Kara Dunn and another from Vivian Iwuchukwu, plus a foul and free throw, helping USC open a 29-10 lead.
“Having that on the floor — people that can shoot, people that can post up … opens up the floor for all of us,” Dunn said. “So people are out on me and Deezy on the three-point line. That’s how Viv was able to attack and take advantage of that because they can’t really help off, and so I think us having versatile team members and having multiple ways of attack is really good for us.”
Trusting in teammates and knowing they will make the right plays helped Iwuchukwu in her execution on the court.
“Kennedy had seven assists and other people had five and were really good on getting the ball to all of us,” Iwuchukwu said. “Trusting that my teammates were gonna give me the ball, knowing that there’s not going to be someone that’s going to take it from behind me.”
Pepperdine (4–2) tried to cut into USC’s early lead but struggled to overcome 11 first-half turnovers. The Waves gained most of their first-half points from USC fouls.
USC closed the half leading 47–26.
Early in the third quarter, both teams traded baskets, with Iwuchukwu scoring first on a layup for USC, and Pepperdine’s Eli Guiney responding with one of her own. USC led 62–39 heading into the fourth.
Down the stretch, USC continued to extend the lead with a series of three-pointers, and Laura Williams scored the final points of the game.
Davidson finished with 18 points, five assists, four rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Dunn added 19 points and three rebounds. Smith contributed nine points, seven assists, three steals and three rebounds, while Iwuchukwu scored nine points.
Guiney finished with 12 points, six assists and three rebounds. Meghan Fiso scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds.
Heading into their next matchup Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Saint Mary’s (5-3) at Galen Center, the Trojans will continue to focus on communicating as a team and stopping runs early.
“We want to keep people off the offensive glass and it’s just something we know we have to do to win at a high level,” Gottlieb said. “And I just think we wanna continue to grow together as a team, communicate more and go on runs when we’re winning and be able to stop runs when [opponents] have something going.
”… I think everyone wants to do it — like, we’ve got a great group — it’s just really finding how do we take the next step to the next level.”