JuJu Watkins passes USC women's basketball legend in scoring

It wasn't without big moments of worry, but JuJu Watkins surpassed USC women's basketball legend Pam McGee in points. The program has had a number of tremendous players wear the cardinal and gold. A closer look at the all-time Trojan scoring list has notable names such as Lisa Leslie and the twin sister of Pam, Paula McGee. 

This year's sophomore guard now sits in sixth with 1,706 points. Now in seventh, Pam McGee saw her total passed by the Los Angeles native during the First Round matchup against North Carolina Greensboro. 

Although a 22-point outing isn't necessarily unusual for Watkins, it did come under strenuous circumstances. The guard faced two notable moments in the NCAA tournament game in which her immediate availability was questioned. On both occasions, however, she insisted that she felt fine, and coach Lindsay Gottlieb trusted her and the training staff and kept her in.

The top milestone is still held by Cheryl Miller. At 3,018, Watkins still sits 1,312 points behind. As can be seen by the current pace, though, the guard is well on pace to not just pass Miller, but also Caitlin Clark, who holds the all-time NCAA record for both men's and women's scoring.

For Watkins, however, climbing up the ladder for USC and in all of collegiate sports is a byproduct and not a point of focus or emphasis. The ultimate goal, as is the case for most top athletes, is to win a championship.

While some may criticize her even being back in the game at that point of a blowout, it lines up with the overall vision for her and coach Gottlieb. The Trojans got the opening March Madness win, but they know and acknowledge that it was far from a clean 40-minute performance.

Point of contention during USC women's basketball game

The All-American was able to bypass Pam McGee on Saturday because she and the staff knew that they would need a better overall showing on offense in order to make a deep run. Far from playing to see a game out, the Ladies of Troy maintained their full effort throughout the matchup, even when it was out of hand. The group essentially treated the final 20 minutes as an enhanced practice, using the time to get back into an offensive rhythm together.

While Watkins had a good scoring day and landed at sixth on this notable list, the half-court flow needed some fine-tuning. On a slightly different positive note, even when working through an injury concern, the sophomore still showed an ability to beat her defender off the dribble and get to the basket.

Achieving this tier in the USC program is significant and deserving of recognition. This is particularly true as Watkins has not even completed her second year on college ball yet. Some may disagree that this particular mark was set on a night in which the game was out of question and she was dealing with two separate lingering issues. If anything, however, this further shows how she's gotten to the level that she has and should inspire her teammates to rally behind her for their upcoming game against Mississippi State.