It has been an exciting summer for the USC women’s basketball program. With superstar Juju Watkins and a number of other standouts returning, the Trojans should enter the 2026-2027 season as one of the top teams in the country.
While USC will primarily be led by its returners this winter, the Women of Troy did add two notable pieces in the transfer portal. One of those was Ryann Bennett, who comes to USC from UC Davis. As a sophomore with the Aggies last year, she averaged 15.4 points per game.
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In addition, the Trojans picked up a commitment from Florida State transfer Pania Davis. After playing two years at the junior college level, Davis averaged 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest in her lone season with the Seminoles in 2025-2026.
As we like to say, however, the transfer portal giveth, and the transfer portal taketh. While the Trojans added two players in the portal this cycle, they also lost five: Malia Samuels, Vivian Iwuchukwu, Gerda Raulusaityte, Dayana Mendes, and Yakiya Milton.
None of those players were likely to see a ton of playing time for USC in 2026-2027. All five of the departures averaged under 3.5 points per game last season, and only Samuels played more than 14 minutes per contest. With what should be a significantly improved Trojans roster this upcoming year, those numbers were more likely to go down than up. Still, depth is always valuable, and USC will now be forced to look for it in other places as a result.
The Women of Troy are currently in the middle of their summer practices. Bennett and Davis—along with the incoming freshmen—have arrived on campus and are practicing with the team as they prepare for what USC fans are hoping will be a season to remember in Troy.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Recapping USC women’s basketball’s transfer portal offseason
