USC women snap 4-game skid in rout of Purdue

LOS ANGELES — The USC women’s basketball team snapped its four-game losing streak and picked up its third Big Ten Conference win on Sunday afternoon by beating Purdue 83-57.

Starting guard Kennedy Smith also made her return to the lineup after missing the last three games due to a lower leg injury.

Smith tied for a team-high six assists and scored four points in her return. She made her first basket of the game on a layup at the 5:26 mark in the first quarter, and the two points gave USC (11-7 overall, 3-4 Big Ten) an 11-7 lead.

The sophomore resumed a workload similar to what she had prior to the injury and went on to play 24 minutes.

Kara Dunn led the Trojans with a season-high 29 points while pulling down five rebounds. Londynn Jones chipped in 15 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 on free throws and Jazzy Davidson scored 13 points.

Vivian Uwuchukwu made her first start since the Dec. 7 game against Washington and sixth start overall this season. The 6-foot-3 sophomore forward started off the scoring in the second quarter with a layup and made another basket at the buzzer for a 30-11 Trojan advantage over the Boilermakers (11-8, 2-5).

USC scored six unanswered points to separate itself in the first quarter and kept piling on the points in the first half for a 42-27 lead at the midway point of the game.

Even though Jazzy Davidson made only four out of her 12 shots, she still found ways to impact the game. She tossed a pass to Smith, who was waiting in the paint for a chance to hook a layup.

Purdue big Lana McCarthy fouled out of the game early in the fourth quarter, and the Boilermakers’ Tara Daye and Kendall Puryear also entered foul trouble in the third. Meanwhile, USC’s offense kept flowing.

Dunn tied her season high of 27 points when she made a layup with eight minutes left in the game and shot .706 from the field for her best shooting night since the Nov. 28 game against Pepperdine.

The Trojans outscored Purdue 24-15 in the third quarter and 17-15 in the fourth to close out the game.

USC’s competition will ramp up significantly later this week when it heads to the Mitten State for a two-game road trip against No. 8 Michigan (17-1, 6-1) and No. 15 Michigan State (16-1, 6-1).