{"id":553708,"date":"2026-01-30T10:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T10:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/553708\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T10:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T10:17:13","slug":"usc-women-basketball-stuns-no-8-iowa-in-a-huge-statement-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/553708\/","title":{"rendered":"USC women basketball stuns No. 8 Iowa in a huge statement win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the bitter end of a brutal January, Kennedy Smith<\/a> put her head down, determined to will her way to the hoop. All month long, USC<\/a> faded in the most unfortunate moments, letting games get away from them. There was the 16-point lead lost<\/a> in Ann Arbor. The frustrating final five minutes against Oregon<\/a>. The seven fourth-quarter turnovers at Minnesota<\/a>. And so on.<\/p>\n

The Trojans had lost six of their last seven entering Thursday, not far from the worst stretch of Lindsay Gottlieb<\/a>\u2019s tenure as coach. But as No. 8 Iowa climbed back in the third quarter, threatening to add another defeat to that list, Smith, the Trojans\u2019 emotional leader, took matters into her hands.<\/p>\n

She drove once, then again, then again. Four times in a matter of two minutes, the relentless Smith attacked the hoop, carrying the weight of USC\u2019s weeks-long slump on her shoulders as she did. When she finally let up, the Trojans were well out in front again, rolling from there to an 81-69 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Hawkeyes (18-3 overall, 9-1 Big Ten) had not lost in Big Ten play coming into Thursday, while Gottlieb\u2019s Trojans had struggled to find a foothold in the conference. But it all finally came together at Galen Center in what was arguably USC\u2019s best game to date, an upset that could turn the tide of the Trojans\u2019 season.<\/p>\n

Gottlieb said after the game that she felt a single win like Thursday\u2019s could spark a turnaround.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, she said, \u201cright now, this was really, really needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

That the decisive stretch came courtesy of Smith felt all the more fitting, considering how she started the game. The sophomore opened one of eight from the floor. At halftime, Gottlieb grabbed her: \u201cKeep attacking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Smith took that halftime advice to heart, scoring eight of her 12 points in that single stretch. But she was only one facet of the Trojans\u2019 suddenly potent offensive attack.<\/p>\n

Kara Dunn<\/a> once again led the way, scoring 25 \u2014 good for her seventh straight game with 21 points or more. Freshman Jazzy Davidson<\/a> wasn\u2019t far behind, pouring in 21 points while adding eight assists and four rebounds.<\/p>\n

The ball moved much better in general for USC\u2019s offense than it had at any point in the previous month. The Trojans turned the ball over just five times, four fewer than their previous low, while tallying 23 assists, which was two fewer than their season high.<\/p>\n

It felt like a glimpse, for one night at least, of how this was supposed to work all along.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were just tremendous,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cThis team has big goals still and some learning and adversity behind us. But I think our best basketball is in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"USC <\/p>\n

USC players (from left) Kara Dunn, Jazzy Davidson, Brooklyn Shamblin, Dayana Mendes and Malia Samuels celebrate after the Trojans\u2019 81-69 win Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Melina Pizano \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be up to USC to prove that during a stretch ahead that should be a bit smoother than the past month. But it may have to brave that stretch without Vivian Iwuchukwu, who appeared to injure her leg in the second half.<\/p>\n

The Trojans flew out to an early lead on the heels of their three-point shooting, which largely failed them since the start of Big Ten season. They shot under 30% from deep during that stretch of nine games, while also shooting the second-most three-pointers of any team in the conference.<\/p>\n

That shooting slump suddenly ended early Thursday. USC hit five three-pointers in the first 10 minutes, its most in any quarter this season. By the end of the opening quarter, the Trojans led 28-13.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Iowa rallied quickly in the second, hitting five three-pointers to cut the Trojans\u2019 halftime lead to just six. At one point, in the third quarter, the Hawkeyes drew within three.<\/p>\n

That was as close as they got. USC made nine of its next 11 shots, while Iowa didn\u2019t hit another perimeter shot until the fourth quarter. By then, USC had buried them too deeply.<\/p>\n

Whether the win will be enough for the Trojans to make up the ground they lost over the last month remains to be seen. But as Gottlieb addressed the team after the game, her players burst into spontaneous celebration, flinging water at their coach and soaking in the afterglow of their biggest victory of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really means everything,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cWe really felt like we needed this win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the bitter end of a brutal January, Kennedy Smith put her head down, determined to will her…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":553709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[3257,1582,276,1910,242633,7776,242630,2961,242632,224,5337,24569,11148,471,449,5950,242631,2450,36418,11016],"class_list":{"0":"post-553708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-big-ten","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-game","12":"tag-huge-statement-win","13":"tag-iowa","14":"tag-kennedy-smith","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-lindsay-gottlieb","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-matter","20":"tag-minute","21":"tag-no","22":"tag-point","23":"tag-season","24":"tag-second-most-three-pointer","25":"tag-thursday","26":"tag-trojans","27":"tag-usc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115983538738906603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}