The Sports Report: JuJu Watkins leads USC to an upset win over UCLA

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Ryan Kartje: JuJu Watkins is used to feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. She’d been raised on the basketball court in that kind of pressure cooker, shouldering whatever burden was asked of her otherworldly talent. When the moment calls for it, Watkins doesn’t hesitate in seizing the moment.

Those moments came one after another in thrilling succession Thursday, asking more and more of Watkins, who just kept answering. She carried USC through a shooting slump, not only pacing the Trojans offense with a stunning 38 points but energizing their defense, too, swatting one shot after another, eight in total.

But when those moments finally reached a crescendo in the final minutes of one of the most consequential women’s basketball matchups this season, Watkins wasn’t alone in lifting USC to a 71-60 victory that did what no one else could — defeat top-ranked UCLA.

It was the first time USC upset a No. 1 team since its 1983 national title win over Louisiana Tech, and the first time the Trojans beat a No. 1 team at home. That it came against rival UCLA only made it sweeter.

Watkins would pour in 38 points in an unforgettable performance, carrying the Trojans most of the way. But in those final minutes, her teammates helped finish the job.

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USC-UCLA box score

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CLIPPERS

Norman Powell scored a season-high 41 points and James Harden added 32 to lift the Clippers to a 120-116 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday night.

Harden also had 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Los Angeles clawed back from a 20-point deficit and beat Utah for the second time in three games.

The Clippers never trailed in overtime of Ben Simmons’ debut, but did not pull away from the Jazz until Powell made back-to-back baskets to put them up 119-114 with 59 seconds remaining.

Kyle Filipowski led Utah with a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Lauri Markkanen also scored 20 points and John Collins chipped in 17.

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Clippers box score

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: Last year, Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s season debut was a cause for alarm.

This year it will signal just how much trust the Japanese right-hander has earned entering his second season with the Dodgers.

Even though the team added a two-time Cy Young Award in Blake Snell, a 23-year-old phenom in Roki Sasaki, and returns last year’s opening day starter, Tyler Glasnow, manager Dave Roberts announced this week that it likely will be Yamamoto who gets the ball in the season opener next month in Japan.

“I’m very looking forward to it, to be able to pitch, perform at the Japanese ballpark again,” Yamamoto said Thursday through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “And I’d like to get myself ready the best I can.”

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1934 — The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the NHL All-Stars 7-3. The game is played as a benefit for fomer Toronto player Ace Bailey. Bailey suffers a skull fracture earlier in the season from a hit by Boston’s Eddie Shore.

1936 — Maribel Vinson wins her eighth U.S. figure skating singles championship and Robin Lee wins his second consecutive men’s title.

1951 — Sugar Ray Robinson wins the middleweight title with a technical knockout in the 13th round over Jake LaMotta in Chicago.

1953 — Bill Chambers of William & Mary grabs 51 rebounds in a 105-84 victory over Virginia.

1966 — Philadelphia’s Wilt Chamberlain scores 41 points in a 149-123 win over Detroit to become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, passing Bob Pettit (20,880 points).

1975 — Julius Erving of the New York Nets scores 63 points in a 176-166 quadruple overtime loss to the San Diego Conquistadors. Erving sets an ABA record by shooting 25-for-46 from the field and the 342 points are an ABA record.

1986 — Wayne Gretzky gets seven assists for the third time in his career as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Quebec Nordiques 8-2. Gretzky doesn’t score a goal for a career-high ninth straight game, but ties his NHL record with the seven assists.

1988 — Bobby Allison outduels his 26-year-old son Davey to win the Daytona 500 and becomes the first 50-year-old to win NASCAR’s premier event.

1990 — Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins ends his 46-game scoring streak, the second-longest in NHL history, leaving after two scoreless periods of a 4-3 overtime victory over the New York Rangers.

1992 — Bonnie Blair becomes the first American woman in 40 years to win two gold medals in the Winter Olympics when she takes the 1,000-meter speed skating event.

2004 — Anaheim’s Sergei Fedorov is the first Russian-born player to collect 1,000 points with an assist on Keith Carney’s goal in the second period of the Ducks’ 2-1 win over Vancouver.

2005 — Savannah State is 0-for-the-season, becoming the second NCAA Division I school in a half-century to go through an entire season without a win, losing to Florida A&M 49-44 to finish 0-28.

2010 — In Vancouver, an American breaks through the Nordic combined barrier, winning the first Olympic medal in the sport dominated by Europeans. Jason Lamy Chappuis of France overtakes American Johnny Spillane on the final straightaway for the gold medal, winning four-tenths of a second ahead of Spillane.

2010 — Sailing’s America’s Cup, once again, belongs to America after Larry Ellison’s space-age trimaran easily speeds ahead of two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland to complete a two-race sweep in the 33rd America’s Cup.

2015 — Mikaela Shiffrin becomes the third woman to win back-to-back slalom titles at world championships. She finishes in a combined time of 1:38.48, edging Frida Hansdotter of Sweden by 0.34 seconds.

2018 — Snowboarder Shaun White wins America’s 100th Winter Olympic gold medal, throwing down a spectacular final run in the men’s halfpipe at the Pyeongchang Games. The United States is the second country to win 100 winter golds, trailing Norway, which started the day with 121.

2021 — 63rd Daytona 500: Michael McDowell navigates through fiery, final-lap pileup to claim his first career NASCAR Cup Series win in his 14th season; race delayed by rain for 6 hours after huge Lap 14 crash.

Compiled by the Associated Press