No. 8 USC can’t pull off comeback in loss to No. 2 South Carolina

South Carolina guard Ta’Niya Latson entered the paint in the third quarter. As she headed for the layup, she was greeted by USC guard Kennedy Smith, who stood up and sent the ball so hard into the stands that it knocked the hat off a fan sitting a few rows from the crowd at Crypto.com Arena.

That ended up being the highlight of the Trojans’ second half.

They had been in this situation before. In its last game against No. 9 North Carolina State, USC trailed by eight with 9:48 left before pulling out a comeback victory. And on Saturday night, the Trojans found themselves here: down 10 against South Carolina, the No. 2 team in the country, heading into the final quarter.

USC’s No. 8 didn’t make it easy for South Carolina. They forced turnovers. They made their free throws. But it wasn’t enough as South Carolina did just enough little things to escape with a 69-52 victory at Crypto.com Arena.

Smith led USC in scoring with 12 points and three assists. Kara Dunn was the only other Trojan to double figures with 10 points and three rebounds. South Carolina had four players score in double figures, led by Joyce Edwards’ 17 points. South Carolina held USC freshman star Jazzy Davidson to eight points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field.

The Gamecocks (4-0) came out sloppy with six turnovers in the first half and shooting just 33 percent from the floor, but the Trojans (2-1) couldn’t capitalize. Their shooting percentage (36%) was almost as bad in the first two quarters and they rebounded 27-20 as South Carolina scored nine second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds in the first half.

USC guard Jazzy Davidson loses the ball while driving to the basket against South Carolina on Saturday night.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

The cracks began to show in the second half, when South Carolina opened with a 10-2 run to give USC a double-digit deficit. The Gamecocks outscored the Trojans 23-15 in the third.

South Carolina took advantage of every advantage it had from the first half. Their plus-seven on rebounds increased to plus-24. They went from nine offensive rebounds to 21, and although they still finished the game with 16 turnovers, they forced with 16 points off USC’s 13 turnovers.