Tag: Taylor Bigby

Seismic USC win over Stanford had many heroes, but three Trojans stood tallest versus the Trees

If you didn’t know their names before, here are the Women of Troy who were central to the big #USC upset of Stanford: Destiny Littleton, Okako Adika, and Taylor Bigby.

The USC Trojans made national news in the college basketball world on Sunday. They got everyone’s attention. Dealing the Stanford Cardinal — 2021 national champion, 2022 Final Four semifinalist, reigning Pac-12 champion, and annual national colossus — their first Pac-12 loss in two years will open eyes and generate headlines.

USC was flying below the radar as a women’s basketball program.

Was.

Not anymore.

The Trojans are now on the national map, and we’re naturally going to follow this journey, which just became a lot more dramatic and special.

So, how did USC beat Stanford by nine points? There are many reasons, but in this piece, we’ll focus on the three players who did the especially heavy lifting for the Women of Troy: Destiny Littleton, Okako Adika, and Taylor Bigby.

All seven USC players contributed to the win. Coach Lindsay Gottlieb went with a seven-player rotation, a conscious decision to win not with depth, but with her best warriors on the floor.

The three ultimate warriors were Littleton, Adika, and Bigby, who played 119 of a possible 120 minutes. Littleton and Adika played all 40 minutes, Bigby 39. No rest, no breaks. This is on a Sunday afternoon after playing a Friday night game against Cal. Three starters went wall to wall against a team which is leading the Pac-12, favored to make the Final Four, and has a great chance to play another USC team — the University of South Carolina — in April for the national championship.

Littleton, Adika, and Bigby contained Stanford’s offense, leading a remarkable effort which limited the Cardinal to 31-percent shooting from the field, 4 of 21 3-pointers, and only 10 free throw attempts all game.

Littleton, Adika, and Bigby combined to score 38 of USC’s 55 points, grab 17 of USC’s 36 rebounds, hand out 8 assists against just 3 turnovers, and commit a combined total of only 3 fouls.

They were tough, they were smart, and despite being asked to play the full game by Gottlieb, they never truly flinched or weakened.

Is USC a team of destiny? Destiny Littleton transferred to this USC (the Trojans) from the other USC (South Carolina). At South Carolina, Littleton faced Stanford in the Final Four and in the regular season. She knows the Cardinal well, and she relishes going up against them. Gottlieb trusted her with all 40 minutes and was rewarded.

Taylor Bigby transferred to USC from Oregon, where our friends at Ducks Wire chronicled her time in Eugene. Bigby also had a working knowledge of Stanford and a burning desire to beat the Cardinal.

Okako Adika transferred to USC from TCU. Before playing for the Horned Frogs, she played for Odessa College in the JUCO ranks and then for Butler University. She is an experienced, battle-tested player who certainly was ready for a 40-minute street fight against the Pac-12’s top team.

Get to know these USC Women of Troy. They just made a huge statement, and they have gained fresh respect and attention from the rest of the Pac-12 and the nation.

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Report: Former 5-star recruit Taylor Bigby becomes the latest Duck to enter the portal

Taylor Bigby is a former 5-star recruit who ranked as the No. 24 player in the 2021 class. She has reportedly entered the transfer portal.

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The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team is losing players quicker than contestants getting voted off the island on Survivor.

Freshman guard Taylor Bigby is the latest to announce that she is entering the transfer portal, per a report from The Oregonian’s James Crepea. She follows former teammates Maddie Scherr, Sydney Parrish, and Kylee Watson out of Eugene as the mass exodus continues.

Bigby was the No. 29 ranked recruit in the nation according to ESPNW and was a two-time Nevada Gatorade State Player of the Year, winning the award following her junior and senior seasons.

But she was slowed by a hand injury in the middle of the year and her place in the rotation suffered because of it. Bigby appeared in just nine games and didn’t see action on the floor after the win over UConn Jan. 17.

Her best game came in the season opener against Idaho State where she scored seven points in 16 minutes.

With Bigby’s departure, along with Parrish, Oregon head coach Kelly Graves will be looking for a shooting guard or two in the portal. But he can sleep a little better at night in knowing he does bring in one of the top recruiting classes in the country with five-stars Chance Gray (Hamilton, Ohio) and Grace VanSlooten (Ottawa, Ohio) along with four-star prospects Jennah Isai (Surprise, Ari.) and Kennedy Basham (Phoenix).

Oregon’s star point guard Te-Hina Paopao also announced over the past week that she will be staying with the Ducks for the 2022 season.

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Post Sabrina Ionescu era starts in Oregon with departure of Taylor Chavez, Jaz Shelley

Both Jaz Shelley and Taylor Chavez represented an era that is now all gone with their entries into the transfer portal.

This year was quite different for the women’s basketball program in more ways than one, as everyone had to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected the way we watched sports.

But for the Oregon Ducks, not only did they have to play with the restrictions we all faced, they also had to figure out how to play without the trio of Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard, and Satou Sabally. It took some time, but they eventually did figure it out, with it culminating in a second-round upset of third-seed Georgia in the NCAA tournament.

Now that the season is over, though, Oregon received the news that guards Taylor Chavez and Jaz Shelley are entering the transfer portal. Those two, plus seniors Erin Boley and Lydia Giomi, were the last reminders of days past. When the Ducks take the floor for the 2021-22 season, there won’t be one player on the roster who can say they played in a game with Sabrina and Company.

Considering that the Ducks will only be one year removed from the program’s greatest team ever, it’s quite the splash of water in the face and a realization that those days are over.

While it’s a shock to the system, it’s not all that surprising that Chavez and Shelley are looking for greener pastures elsewhere. Playing time for both guards was dwindling as the season moved along, with freshmen Maddie Scherr and Sydney Parrish jumping into the rotation before those two.

Despite the lack of playing time, Chavez and Shelley proved time and time again they can absolutely shoot the ball and they’ll help another team win a lot of games. Shelley still owns the Oregon record for making 10 threes in a game when she torched UC Riverside for 32 points Dec. 19, 2019.

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The next era of the women’s program is going to look a lot different. With 6-foot-7 Sedona Prince and 6-foot-5 Nyara Sabally finally able to be healthy and injury-free, coach Kelly Graves managed to add 5-star guard/forward Taylor Bigby and 6-foot-8 Phillipina Kyei, who will be the tallest player in Oregon history when she arrives. Pair those two up with the No. 1 recruiting class from last season, one can see why Graves is excited about the future.

Oregon won’t have to rely on set shooters hovering around the three-point line anymore. The Ducks will be able to cram the ball in the middle for easy shots and when the defense sags in, that’s when those open threes for the guards will present themselves.

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