"Kara Dunn held her right wrist aloft for an extra beat. Just to be sure. It had been a while, by that point in the second quarter, since USC had seen a deep jumper drop. As Dunn lifted off from behind the arc against Portland on Tuesday, 19 of the Trojans' previous 20 three-point attempts, going back to Saturday's battle with South Carolina, had missed, a stretch of futility strange to a team that mostly scored at will a season ago."
"It hasn't been the smoothest ride for USC this season as it tries to fill the void left by injured superstar JuJu Watkins, who averaged 24 points last season. Jazzy Davidson has done an admirable job stepping into that leading role early on. She led the way again Tuesday, stuffing the stat sheet with 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. The question through four games has been who might step up alongside the Trojans' talented freshman."
"It looked bleak through the first quarter Tuesday. USC opened the game one for seven from the field, with its offense looking out of sorts, and scored a meager 10 points in the first 10 minutes. Portland, fresh off an NCAA tournament invite last season, opened an early eight-point advantage and led for most of the first half. Until Dunn's three-pointer at the 5:42 mark of the second quarter, USC had hit just one shot outside of the paint."
USC started slowly, hitting just one shot outside the paint early and scoring 10 first-quarter points, but regained momentum after Kara Dunn's second-quarter three-pointer. Jazzy Davidson led the Trojans with 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals while Londynn Jones and Kennedy Smith provided additional scoring. The team continues to adjust after losing JuJu Watkins to injury. USC's defense dominated, forcing 29 turnovers — the most since last November — which helped convert defensive stops into a 78-51 win over Portland and steady the team's early-season progress.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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