When it comes to women's basketball at the University of Southern California, there are three names at the top of the list: Cheryl Miller, Lisa Leslie, and Tina Thompson.
Now, there's a fourth.
Freshman JuJu Watkins cemented her name amongst the greats with a 51-point performance on Friday night against No. 3 Stanford. The Trojans won 67-58 in their last regular season matchup against the Cardinal as Pac-12 schools.
What Watkins did transcends athletics at USC.
Think about that iconic original big three and what they did for sports in general.
Cheryl Miller played at USC from 1982-86 and led the Trojans to national titles in 1983 against Louisiana Tech and 1984 against Tennessee. The latter matchup marked Pat Summitt's first national title game appearance. That summer, the two were united when Miller helped the Summitt-coached United States Olympic Team to a gold medal at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion.
It was America's first gold medal in women's basketball at the Olympic Games.
In 1986, Miller was named Sports Illustrated's best college basketball player, male or female. She scored 3,018 total career points, was a four-time All-American, was named Naismith Player of the Year three times, and was the Wade Trophy winner once.
She was the first woman to dunk a basketball in a college game and remains the all-time leading scorer, rebounder, and steals leader at USC. After her playing career ended, Miller became the first female analyst to call a nationally televised NBA game in 1996.
Just discussing Miller put Watkins in rarified air.
Add Lisa Leslie to the conversation.
Leslie played at USC from 1990-94, where she rewrote the record books in the Pac-10 in scoring 2,414 points, grabbing 1,214 rebounds, and blocking 321 shots. She also notched the most blocked shots at USC in a single season, with 95.
Her list of firsts includes being the first woman to dunk a ball in the WNBA (keep in mind, the WNBA didn't exist when Cheryl Miller would have been in her prime), the first to score 3,000 then 4,000, and eventually 6,000 career points, and the first former player to co-own a WNBA franchise.
Then there's the iconic Tina Thompson. Wearing her trademark ruby-red lipstick, Thompson was the original No. 1 overall pick in the inaugural WNBA draft.
She was a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a four-time WNBA champion. She became the WNBA's all-time leading scorer on August 8, 2010, scoring her 6,264th career point to pass Leslie. She ended her professional career with the Seattle Storm in 2013 and still stands as the league's all-time leading scorer with 7,488 points.
Enter the freshman Watkins, who obliterated Miller's freshman record of 39 points in a single game when she hit point No. 40 by the end of the third quarter on Friday night. By the end of the game, Watkins' 51 points scored made her the program's new single-game record holder.
Incidentally, all four are natives of Southern California.
At 18 years old, Watkins has placed the legacy of a beaten-down program that has been irrelevant since the turn of the century onto her shoulders and revitalized it just 18 games into her career.
Through 18 contests this season, Watkins is averaging 27.2 points on .430/.361/.837 shooting splits, 7.1 rebounds, 3.3 dimes, 2.7 steals and 1.6 blocks a night for the 15-4 Trojans (5-4 in the Pac-12), currently ranked as the No. 15 club in the nation by The Associated Press.
The Women of Troy are setting attendance records at the Galen Center. They brought in 10,600-plus against UCLA.
But what Watkins did against Stanford and the winningest coach in college basketball, men or women, made Watkins an icon. Tara VanDerveer, the greatest coach in the sport, didn't have an answer for the 6-foot-2 wing out of Sierra Canyon School.
If that is her breakout game of her freshman season, there's no telling what else is in store.
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