No. 1 seed South Carolina, 9th-seeded USC chase March Madness goals despite losing All-Americans

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina and Southern California are alive in the women’s NCAA Tournament and vying for a spot in the Sweet 16. The chances of that didn’t look so good last fall when both entered the season with All-American players in Chloe Kitts and JuJu Watkins injured and out for the year.

Kitts, a senior forward, hurt her knee during practice in October and has spent the season in sweats instead of on the court. Watkins, one of dynamic stars of the game, tore her ACL in last year’s NCAAs and, like Kitts, has spent the year encouraging and supporting her teammates through the rehab.

Both injuries left the top-seeded Gamecocks (32-3) and the ninth-seeded Trojans (18-13) scrambling to fill voids, yet the teams, who face each other Monday night, are a win away from the Sweet 16 in Sacramento, California.

“Losing a player like JuJu, everyone had to step up into a new role, whether it’s being a leader or doing what you can for the team,” USC forward Laura Williams said.

Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb said the transition began in last year’s NCAA Tournament when her team won a round of 16 game to reach the Elite Eight after Watkins injury. Heading into the season, Gottlieb could build her roster knowing Watkins status and adding players like transfers Kara Dunn from Georgia Tech and Londynn Jones from UCLA.

“I don’t think any of us allowed us to lower the standard,” said Gottlieb, who had reached the round of eight in Watkins’ first two seasons. “But we also didn’t really reference JuJu in terms of, oh, if we had her. We knew she wasn’t going to be available on the court in that capacity.”

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley took a similar approach to Kitts’ absence. Yes, the Gamecocks would be without a high-motor, relentless rebounder, scorer and defender inside, but she would not help South Carolina on the court this season.

“I think it’s our job as coaches to hit it once and move on,” Staley said.

Staley said she still doesn’t discuss with players what a healthy Kitts might have meant to South Carolina’s season.

“But young people also are resilient. They find a way,” Staley said. “If we don’t harp on it, they’re not going to harp on it. They’re just going to keep playing the way we prepped them.”

Dramatic ending

USC eeked out a 71-67 overtime win over Clemson in the opening round Saturday after what looked like a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by the Tigers’ Mia Moore at the end of regulation. Officials then reviewed the play — needing a stopwatch to countdown the 4.4 seconds of action — and found the potential game winner came after time ran out.

Gottlieb looked at the ending a time or two more on Saturday night and believes referees called it correctly. “As hard as it is to have such a close call either way, you want to get it right and I think they did,” she said.

Staley was courtside for the finish and thought Moore’s shot was good. But after she replayed it on her iPad a few times, came to agree with officials.

“Where the game is decided by what you call, you can go back and see it and correct it, yes, I think it’s a powerful tool,” she said.

Uncle Dale

Wendale Farrow is on the other side of the USC-South Carolina matchup. Farrow, in his first year on the Gamecocks staff, spent seven seasons total under Gottlieb at California and USC, so much that her children refer to him as “Uncle Dale.”

And Farrow has not let emotions and old ties get in the way of his new responsibilities, handling South Carolina’s scouting report on USC heading into the weekend. “It’s really cool to have some that was in the room with them last year, that knows the highs and lows and creating an edge for us to win the game,” Staley said.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness