No. 19 USC Women’s Basketball Welcomes Cal Poly for Final Home Game of 2025

Thursday, December 18

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

USC

Cal Poly

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Laura Williams puts her hand up to defend against an opponent on court

Photo by: USC Athletics

No. 19 USC Women’s Basketball Welcomes Cal Poly for Final Home Game of 2025

December 17, 2025 | Women's Basketball

USC WBB 12/18 Release

Women of Troy to host the Mustangs for the third consecutive season at the Galen Center.

LOS ANGELES – USC will play its penultimate nonconference game this Thursday, Dec. 18 as the Trojans host the Cal Poly Mustangs at the Galen Center for a 7:00 p.m. PT contest.

The Trojans look to get back in the win column this week after falling to the No. 1 ranked UConn Huskies over the weekend. The game will mark the final home game of 2025 for the Trojans. Thursday will mark the Trojans final game of the year at the Galen Center, as USC posted a 15-1 record in 2025 at home.

SERIES RECORD: 4-0
LAST MEETING: W, 90-35 (November 9, 2024) • Los Angeles, Calif. // Galen Center
HEAD COACH: Shanele Stires (4th season at Cal Poly)
CONFERENCE: Big Sky
STREAK: W, 4-0
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (PxP - Andrew Geisler, Color - Makenna Arteaga, Sideline - Alana Morgan)
LISTEN: ESPN LA 710 AM / USC Gameday App / ESPNLA App

A WIN WOULD

Be the 884th win in program history (883-569)
Be head coach Lindsay Gottlieb's 101st win at USC (100-39)
Be head coach Lindsay Gottlieb's 335th career win as a head coach (334-167)
Help USC improve to 7-1 at the Galen Center this season (currently 6-1)
Help USC stay undefeated against Cal Poly with their fifth consecutive win against the Mustangs (currently 4-0)

SCOUTING CAL POLY

Cal Poly, 2-8, has had its worst start to a season since the 2021-22 season
Cal Poly fell 115-28 to UCLA on Tuesday.
Sophomore Vanessa McManus leads the Big West Conference in points per game with 20.1.

LAST TIME OUT

SO Kennedy Smith scored a season and team-high 16 points (5-for-5 FT). The guard also contributed a team-high seven rebounds and three steals
FR Jazzy Davidson notched a game-high four blocks. She also tallied 10 points, four rebounds and a team-high two made three pointers
SR Londynn Jones posted 14 points and scored a season and game-high eight made free throws
SR Kara Dunn matched her career high and set a new season high in assists with five. The guard also had five points and two rebounds
The Trojans restricted the Huskies to 39 points in the first half; their fewest points scored in a half this season.

GOTTLIEB GETS IT
Now in her fifth season as head coach at USC, Lindsay Gottlieb has guided Women of Troy to historic runs with back-to-back NCAA Elite Eight appearances in 2024 and 2025. Also a two-time finalist for the Werner Ladder National Coach of the Year award, Gottlieb led USC to its second-ever Pac-12 Tournament title in 2024 and its first-ever Big Ten regular-season title in 2025. USC also earned a No. 1 seed in the 2024 and 2025 NCAA Tournaments, marking the first time in over 40 years the program has done so.

Gottlieb's 100 game win count at USC is third all-time amongst Trojan head coaches. Picking up her 100th career win at USC against No. 21 Washington, Gottlieb became the fastest Trojan head coach in program history to reach the milestone (138 games).

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Trojans will have no shortage of tests throughout the season as USC is slated to face 10 teams ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25, including six matchups against preseason top 10 opponents. Gottlieb's squad will take on the nation's top three preseason ranked programs - No. 1 UConn, No. 2 South Carolina and No. 3 UCLA (twice), in what is arguably one of the toughest schedules in women's college basketball.

NAISMITH NODS
USC women's basketball sophomore Kennedy Smith and freshman Jazzy Davidson are in line for top college hoops honors, as both were selected to the 2025-26 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Women's College Player of the Year Watch List presented by AXIA Time.

Three Trojans have won the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy a total of five times - JuJu Watkins (2025), Lisa Leslie (1994) and Cheryl Miller (1984, 1985 and 1986). Four Trojans were named to the 2024-25 watch list last season as Rayah Marshall, Kiki Iriafen, Talia von Oelhoffen and the eventual 2025 winner Watkins all received preseason nods.

THE PLACE TO BE.
The University of Southern California is the undeniable, unequaled and unquestioned top destination for student-athletes. USC is both home to 136 national team championships and one of the top-ranked private research institutions in the world. Located in the heart of the thriving Los Angeles metropolitan area, it is situated in one of the most diverse and visible media markets in the world.