She held her right knee with both hands, squeezed her eyes shut, and screamed.

A school and a town and a sport scream with her.

In the history of basketball in Los Angeles, it will be forever known as the night everything changed.

On a court where she flies, USC’s JuJu Watkins collapsed. In a sport where her contortions are magic, she lay curled up in a ball. At a school where she leads thousands, she found herself very much alone, mouth open, chest heaving, crying and screaming again and again.

On the saddest of Mondays, the best women’s college basketball player in America suffered a season-ending knee injury that could alter a career, a program, a life.

With 4:43 left in the first quarter of USC’s second-round NCAA tournament game against Mississippi State at Galen Center, Watkins became tangled up while driving hard against the Bulldogs’ Chandler Prater. Watkins was bumped, then fell to the hardwood in agony that was apparent even before she hit the ground.

Her right knee appeared to be untouched, but it twisted nonetheless, causing Watkins to immediately cry out as the previously deafeningly enthusiastic crowd around her grew sweepingly silent.

Watkins lay on the ground for several long minutes while being surrounded by coach Lindsay Gottlieb and three other staff members. It became apparent she could not put pressure on the knee when two staffers picked her up and carried her directly to the locker room without even bypassing the Trojan bench.

Once Watkins was gone, her teammates channeled their shock and grief into an impressive 96-59 victory. The score was 13-2 when Watkins was injured, the Trojans outscored the Bulldogs 83-57 for the rest of the game.

The fans, meanwhile, were more obvious in their pain. They began booing the Bulldogs immediately after the injury and jeered them for the rest of the night.

Don’t blame Mississippi State. They were physical, but Watkins was not injured on a cheap shot. It didn’t seem like a shot at all, it appeared to be simply one of those freaky basketball knee injuries that just happens.

Gottlieb put on a brave face and coached a heckuva game as she led her team to next weekend’s Sweet 16 in Spokane, Wash. But it’s a Sweet 16 that has lost its flavor. And afterward the USC coach’s voice grew thick and her eyes welled when talking about her fallen star.

“I mean, I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t rattled seeing JuJu on the floor and crying,” she said. “I mean, this is a human game. And so I tried obviously my best to be what I needed to be for the team, but internally it’s a lot.”

USC star JuJu Watkins is carried off the court after sustaining a season-ending knee injury against Mississippi State on Monday. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)

Externally, it’s even more. What happens now will not be pretty for neither this glamorous and gifted talent nor the fortunes of her team.

The first concern is, of course, for Watkins. Great players come back from serious knee injuries every season, and she’s just 19, meaning this would probably be merely an interruption in what still portends to be a long and wondrous career.

But what a time for an interruption. As evidenced by her recent multiyear deal with the sports collectible company Fanatics — she is the first female college athlete to receive such royal treatment — Watkins is her sport’s most celebrated player.

Bouncing beneath her trademark bun, moving so effortlessly yet intensely through the court that she reminds folks of Kobe Bryant, Watkins has replaced Caitlin Clark as the face of women’s college basketball.

She can be seen on inspirational commercials, on downtown murals, on high-priced T-shirts, and on the backs of thousands of folks of all genders who wear her jersey.

She ranks second in the nation with a 25-point average while also leading the Trojans in assists and steals and just plain cool.

No less than the Lakers coach has raved about her, JJ Redick recently acknowledging his awe after witnessing her greatness.

“JuJu Watkins is one-of-one, she’s incredible,” Redick told reporters after attending a USC-UCLA game. “First time seeing her play in person… she lived up to the hype.”

No less than Jayden Daniels has hung out with her, the Washington Commanders’ celebrated quarterback sitting alongside her courtside at Galen Center on Saturday afternoon before his famously protective mother sat between them.

She is arguably already one of the most famous college basketball players who grew up in Los Angeles and stayed in Los Angeles, her endearing hometown persona has become as attractive as her game, and it’s so incredibly sad that she has to put that all on hold for this sort of surgery-necessary injury.

Once considered national championship contenders, they will be fortunate to defeat Kansas State in their Sweet 16 matchup, and if they survive, they will be decided underdogs against Connecticut in the Elite Eight.

Just as the Trojans have been depleted, UConn has gotten healthy, following up a 69-point first-round victory over Arkansas State with a 34-point victory over 30-win South Dakota State.

It doesn’t seem likely that USC can stay alive long without Watkins. She not only runs their offense, she is their offense. She not only racks up the big numbers, she makes everyone around her better, the Trojans connecting on several wide-open shots Monday night in plays concocted by the double-teamed Watkins.

They’ll miss her badly no matter how inspirationally they played on Monday night. Gottlieb said the game was basically a tribute to Watkins, but one wonders how long that feeling can last.

USC star JuJu Watkins passes around Mississippi State defenders in the first quarter Monday. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)

“You cannot tell me that the energy of that crowd and how sort of angry they were with the other team and how much fired up they were for our team is so much about what JuJu has given to this arena, to this program, to this city,” Gottlieb said. “And you just want to give it all back. You want to give it all back and support her however we can.”

Unfortunately, there’s only so much they can give. Regrettably, there’s not a team in the country that could survive this kind of loss.

As Monday’s game ended, the smiling and hugging Trojans left the Galen Center court for the last time this season to a prolonged and appreciative standing ovation from a crowd that filled the gym with cheers and chants.

But on the night everything changed, nothing resounded more than the screams.

latimes.com

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