Columbia, SC – Freshman jazzy davidson The ninth seed scored 31 points in her women’s NCAA tournament debut, including a 3-pointer with 1:03 left in overtime. USC 71-67 win over 8-seed CLEMSON On Saturday.
The 6-foot-1 Davidson hit a perfect shot from the right side to send the Trojans (18-13) into a second-round matchup with the top seed. South Carolina On Monday.
It felt like when Clemson won mia moore The running basket was reversed at the regulation buzzer and the Tigers ran down the court celebrating. But officials reviewed the play and found that the shot clock had not properly started with 4.4 seconds left when Clemson inbounded the ball and went to the basket.
USC players watched in dismay until officials escorted them to their bench for review. When the referee announced his decision, the Trojans prepared themselves to play another five minutes.
“I mean, these are the things that happen in March,” Davidson said of Moore’s apparent buzzer-beater. “None of us wanted our season to end, so it was a little disappointing to see that, but when we found out we were going into overtime, it just took a mental reset. We all came back together.”
cara dunnJoe finished with 22 points, urging her teammates to stick around until they were gone.
“We said, ‘You don’t get second chances in life,’ so we took advantage,” he said.
Clemson led 64–61 with 2:34 to play in OT when Davidson went ahead. He hit the tying 3-pointer and then put USC ahead to stay on the next possession Malia Samuels Collected Davidson’s missed shot and passed it back to Davidson for the go-ahead basket.
The dynamic freshman, who led the team with 17.6 points, played all 45 minutes and finished one point shy of her career high.
USC has reached the Elite Eight the last two years but played the entire season without a star juju watkinsJoe is recovering from an ACL torn in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Clemson came within 70-67 morgan leeA 3-pointer with nine seconds left, but Samuels made a free throw to seal it.
Taylor Johnson-Matthews Scored 16 points for Clemson, and raven thompson Added 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The Tigers and second-year coach Shawn Poppe were back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, which was also the last time the team reached the second round.
Poppy, who looked dazed and disappointed by the result, was proud of his team’s determination.
“Unfortunately, today, I thought Southern Cal was a possession or 0.1 second better than us,” Poppy said.
USC faced the Gamecocks for the second time this season. The teams played in Los Angeles in November, with South Carolina winning 69–52.
