LAS VEGAS — As USC celebrated its Pac-12 tournament title, the first championship the program has won in a decade, there was some disbelief among its veteran core.
It wasn’t a surprise it had beaten Stanford 74-61, or that it had done so on a veritable off night from JuJu Watkins (9 points, her lone single-digit output of the season), or that it had taken down the titans of the Pac-12 in the process. Rather, this group couldn’t believe with whom they were commemorating this moment.
For multiple seasons, McKenzie Forbes, Kaitlyn Davis and Kayla Padilla were the fiercest of rivals in the Ivy League. Twelve months after their individual dreams of winning a conference championship came up short for the final time as members of Harvard, Columbia and Penn, respectively, they accomplished that feat collectively.
They came to USC to win. It still doesn’t make it any less weird that they’re realizing their loftiest goals together.
“It’s just the greatest feeling in the world, and to do it with them, too, they’re such great teammates. I love playing with them,” Forbes said Sunday. “I never would have thought I would be hugging Kaitlyn Davis, holding the trophy with her last year at this time.”
Last year at this time, players around the country were making decisions…
