On Monday, USC women's basketball fell to UConn in the Elite Eight, ending the Trojans' 2024-2025 season. On Wednesday, USC suffered another loss when freshman Avery Howell made the surprising announcement that she will be entering the transfer portal.
Howell served as the Trojans' sixth player for the majority of the season. She started the team's final two games following the season-ending injury to Juju Watkins and played well, racking up 18 points, eight rebounds, and four steals in USC's Sweet 16 victory over Kansas State.
With Watkins likely to be unavailable for a good chunk of next season and both Kiki Iriafen and Rayah Marshall graduating, Howell was expected to play a major role for next year's team. Her departure leaves a major void in the Trojans' lineup, one that head coach Lindsay Gottlieb will likely be forced to look outside to fill.
Assuming Watkins is unavailable at the start of next season, Kennedy Smith will be USC's only returner who averaged more than 17 minutes per game this season. In addition to turning to the transfer portal, the Trojans will likely be looking for bigger roles out of Kayleigh Heckel and Malia Samuels.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC's Avery Howell enters transfer portal, creates huge roster opening
