COLUMBIA, S.C. — Freshman Jazzy Davidson scored 31 factors in her women’s NCAA Tournament debut, together with the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:03 left in additional time to raise ninth-seeded Southern California to a 71-67 victory over No. 8 seed Clemson on Saturday.
Davidson, a 6-foot-1 freshman, stroked an ideal shot from the proper facet to ship the Trojans (18-13) right into a second-round matchup with prime seed South Carolina on Monday.
It regarded like Clemson had received when Mia Moore flipped in a working basket on the regulation buzzer and the Tigers ran onto the courtroom in celebration. But officers reviewed the play and located the shot clock had not correctly began with 4.4 seconds to play when Clemson inbounded the ball, they usually waved off the basket.
USC gamers watched in disappointment till officers moved them towards their bench for a assessment. When the referees introduced their choice, the Trojans ready themselves to play one other 5 minutes.
“I mean, those are the things that happen in March,” Davidson stated of Moore’s obvious buzzer-beater. “None of us want our season to be over, so it was a little crushing to see that, but when we found out we were going into overtime, just mental reset. We all came back together.”
Kara Dunn, who completed with 22 factors, urged her teammates to lock in for so long as that they had left.
“We said, ‘You don’t get second chances in life,’ so we took advantage,” she stated.
Clemson led 64-61 with 2:34 to play in OT when Davidson bought going. She hit a tying 3-pointer after which put USC forward to remain on the following possession after Malia Samuels gathered Davidson’s missed shot and bought it again to Davidson for the go-ahead basket.
The dynamic freshman, who got here in main the staff in scoring at 17.6 factors, performed all 45 minutes and completed a degree shy of her profession excessive.
USC had reached the Elite Eight the previous two years, however performed the complete season with out star JuJu Watkins, who’s recovering from a torn ACL suffered in final yr’s NCAA Tournament.
Clemson bought inside 70-67 on Morgan Lee’s 3-pointer with 9 seconds left, however Samuels made a free throw to seal it.
Taylor Johnson-Matthews scored 16 factors for Clemson, and Raven Thompson added 11 factors and 12 rebounds.
The Tigers and second-year coach Shawn Poppie have been again in the NCAA Tournament for the primary time since 2019, which was additionally the final time the staff superior into the second spherical.
Poppie, who regarded dazed and upset with the end result, was pleased with his staff’s resolve.
“Unfortunately, today, I thought Southern Cal was one possession, or point-1 second better than us,” Poppie stated.
Up subsequent
USC faces the Gamecocks for a second time this season. The groups performed in November in Los Angeles, a 69-52 South Carolina victory.