LOS ANGELES (AP) — UCLA transfer Londynn Jones scored 16 points, touted freshman Jazzy Davidson added 14 points in her debut and No. 18 USC opened the season with an 87-48 rout of New Mexico State on Tuesday night as star guard JuJu Watkins watched from the bench.
Watkins will miss the season while recovering from a torn ACL that occurred in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in March. With her signature bun sticking straight back instead of on top of her head, Watkins cheered and patted teammates encouragingly during timeouts.
Davidson started slowly, missing all three of her shots while committing three turnovers in eight minutes of the first quarter. She missed all seven of her 3-point attempts but made 6 of 7 free throws to go with five rebounds and four assists and she didn't have another turnover.
The Aggies came out strongly, taking a 13-12 lead before the Trojans scored the final eight points to fuel a dominant run.
Lucia Yenes scored a career-high 27 points for the Aggies (0-1). Imani Warren added 11 while picking up four fouls. The rest of the team was a combined 5 of 22 from the field.
The Trojans put the game away with a 33-10 run over the end of the first and start of the second quarter. Davidson had eight points, including her first collegiate basket on a layup in the second.
Yenes scored all 10 of the Aggies' points in the second when USC stepped up its defensive pressure with double teams. The Trojans forced 24 turnovers that led to 24 points.
Recommended for you
Davidson ran off five points in a row in the third, hitting a jumper and spinning around and making another while drawing a foul. USC led by 33 points late in the period and went up by 41 late in the game.
Up next
New Mexico State hosts New Mexico Highlands in its home opener on Nov. 11
USC plays North Carolina State in Charlotte at the Ally Tipoff on Sunday.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.