{"id":139686,"date":"2026-01-19T03:27:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T03:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/139686\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T03:27:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T03:27:26","slug":"usc-womens-basketball-snaps-losing-streak-with-rout-of-purdue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/139686\/","title":{"rendered":"USC women’s basketball snaps losing streak with rout of Purdue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The USC women\u2019s basketball team ended a four-game losing streak by dominating Purdue 83-57<\/a> at Galen Center on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Trojans\u2019 ability to force 21 turnovers helped fuel their decisive transition offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe turned them over a bunch, which always helps us to play in transition. I think we\u2019re incredibly good at transition,\u201d coach Lindsay Gottlieb<\/a> said. \u201cI did think there was a pop in their step, just a conscious effort to kind of push tempo and push pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

USC guard Kennedy Smith returned to the court after missing three games while recovering from a lower leg injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving Ken back on the court is a huge blessing,\u201d senior guard Kara Dunn said. \u201cWe love to have her just because even though she\u2019s a sophomore, Ken\u2018s basically a vet. She knows what she\u2019s doing on the defensive end, on the offensive end \u2014 it makes everything just so much easier. So just having her back means a lot for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trojans (11-7, 3-4 Big Ten) built early offensive momentum and opened up a 10-point lead against Purdue (10-8, 2-5), setting a strong tone during the first quarter. <\/p>\n

USC maintained control by scoring nine points to start the second quarter before a foul on Vivian Iwuchukwu sent Purdue forward Lana McCarthy to the free-throw line, where she recorded the Boilermakers\u2019 first points of the period.<\/p>\n

The Trojans responded with a three-pointer from Dunn, continuing to apply pressure on the offensive end. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just hunting the best possible offense,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cI thought we ran sets well when it was time to run sets and I thought we played in flow well tonight and I am expecting that to continue to get better as the season goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunn said she has embraced a more aggressive scoring mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking more shot attempts in general isn\u2019t anything I\u2019m unfamiliar with,\u201d Dunn said. \u201cI think that\u2019s probably a mindset I should have had sooner. I\u2019m grateful to be able to step up in this position and I really hope that I keep it going throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Purdue found a rhythm and cut into the deficit, the Boilermakers were unable to take the lead, and the Trojans entered halftime with a commanding 42\u201327 advantage.<\/p>\n

USC\u2019s offense remained consistent throughout the second half, converting scoring opportunities and following through on shots as the Trojans maintained control of the game.<\/p>\n

Dunn delivered a standout performance with a season-high 29 points and five rebounds. Jazzy Davidson was limited to three points in the first half, but the freshman star found her rhythm after halftime and finished with 13 points and six assists. <\/p>\n

Londynn Jones added 15 points, and Iwuchukwu contributed seven points and four rebounds.<\/p>\n

Purdue guard Tara Daye led the Boilermakers with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Kiki Smith added 15 points, while Avery Gordon finished with 10 points and six rebounds.<\/p>\n

USC will try to build on its win during a grueling Big Ten stretch, with games Thursday at No. 15 Michigan State, Sunday at No. 8 Michigan and Jan. 29 at home against No. 11 Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning is always more fun, but we\u2019re going to keep the foot on the gas. It\u2019s almost easier to push them a little bit when you\u2019re not as worried about it,\u201d Gottlieb said of winning. \u201cI had to strike a balance with what is our standard, what\u2019s acceptable, but also to know we really can do it. So I think the mood is more fun \u2026 but I think they\u2019re going to be highly motivated to do what we\u2019re capable of doing going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The USC women\u2019s basketball team ended a four-game losing streak by dominating Purdue 83-57 at Galen Center on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[25160,19222,423,46866,69221,70692,48,52,51,47,50,49,18158,1417,24344,7556,61679,30246,23138,48360,70691],"class_list":["post-139686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-boilermakers","tag-control","tag-game","tag-halftime","tag-kara-dunn","tag-kiki-smith","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-no","tag-point","tag-purdue","tag-rebound","tag-rout","tag-streak","tag-trojans","tag-usc-woman","tag-vivian-iwuchukwu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}