Londynn Jones scores a career-high 28 points as USC women rout Cal Poly

It was a game to remember for Londynn Jones. She played with confidence, showed her dribbling skills and displayed her all-around talents as the senior guard finished with a career-high 28 points off the bench in the USC women’s basketball team’s 86-39 win over Cal Poly on Thursday night at Galen Center.

In the first part of the game, Jones was perfect on offense while aggressively defending every time the Mustangs had the ball. When Cal Poly attacked, she came up with steals and completed the play with a field goal, sometimes even adding one more point on a free throw.

“I’m just happy we’re figuring it out, starting to finally put the pieces together,” she said. “I know that’s something we’ve been emphasizing in practice, just watching films and putting the pieces together.”

Jones made 11 of 16 field goals, and Jazzy Davidson scored 17 points and had nine rebounds and six steals.

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The Trojans (8-3) looked sluggish in the first half, with Davidson making only three of 11 field goals, and the Mustangs (2-9) grabbing 15 rebounds. But as the game progressed, USC played better defense and forced Cal Poly into shot-clock violations on multiple occasions and 27 turnovers, scoring 39 points off of them.

“We sort of played the way we wanted to, for a majority of the game, and that’s encouraging,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

After a 79-51 loss to top-ranked Connecticut on Saturday, Gottlieb wanted to see her team play with intention while defending, she wanted players to put pressure on the ball, and she wanted to see participation from all the players on the court, at once.

Offensively, she wanted her team to do the simple things better. Gottlieb wanted players to create space and have better movement.

“I saw that in practice and I think we saw a lot of it in the game tonight too,” she said. “But it’ll continue to be a work in progress.”

The Trojans started the third quarter with 12 unanswered points. Cal Poly scored only five points in the quarter, enabling the Trojans to extend their advantage, closing out the quarter with a 43-point lead, 71-28.

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The Trojans finished the game with 15 steals, 45 bench points and 44 rebounds, with 21 coming on the offensive end.

“Our defensive intensity created more open looks for us,” Gottlieb said.

Yakiya Milton was a big part of that with eight rebounds and four blocks in 10 minutes. One block came when she stopped a Mustangs drive to the basket and protected the rim, something Gottlieb preached during practice, she said.

“I try to capitalize on any opportunity I’m given,” said Milton, a junior forward. “I’m trying to play with as much energy and intensity as I can.”

As the Trojans look ahead to a stretch of Big Ten games starting with Nebraska and UCLA, Gottlieb doesn’t see a starting five. She sees the strength of her team to be how deep the roster is.

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“No one played 30 minutes at all and maybe that’s a little bit atypical, but we do believe we can play different kinds of lineups, different people who have different skill sets, different looks,” she said.

And with the help of Jones, who has been to the Final Four with UCLA and played in big conference games, Gottlieb knows the team will feed off her energy and play with confidence.

“She was wearing the wrong colors or the other colors,” Gottlieb quipped. “But you know, she’s been in situations and that experience is premium.”

“She’s going to bring that confidence and swagger no matter what,” she added.