Sydney Carter made a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left and No. 10 Texas A&M rallied past Southern California 71-70 Sunday, the 47th straight nonconference home win for the defending NCAA champions.
USC (4-5) led 69-61 with 2:34 remaining before Texas A&M (8-2) took over. Ashley Corral missed a 3-point attempt for the Trojans with four seconds remaining.
Trojans guard Jacki Gemelos injured her left knee on a drive to the basket with 3:37 remaining in the first half. She fell underneath the basket and writhed on the floor and sobbed in the hushed arena.
Gemelos, who entered the game averaging 11.6 points and a team-leading eight rebounds, spent the second half on the bench with her leg heavily wrapped. She will undergo further evaluation once the team returns to Los Angeles. The senior was one of the nation’s top recruits out of Stockton, Calif., six years ago, but has been slowed by knee injuries throughout her career.
Adrienne Pratcher led the Aggies with a career-high 22 points. Corral had 16 for USC.
Down by eight points in the closing minutes, Texas A&M began its comeback on a pair of jumpers by Pratcher that made it 69-65 with 1:37 left. She finished with nine assists and five steals.
Tyra White, who had 17 points for Texas A&M, made a free throw and Carter had a layup with 24 seconds left that closed the deficit to 69-68. After Corral made one of two free throws with 19 seconds to go, Carter hit from the right side of the key.
The Aggies had shot only 2-for-8 on 3s before Carter’s go-ahead basket.