It wasn’t always the smoothest ride, all the way down to the long wait on Selection Sunday. But for the third straight season, USC is on its way to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, punching its ticket as a No. 10 seed.

The Trojans will face Michigan State, the No. 7 seed in the East region, on Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

USC (22-10) spent most of its season squarely on the tournament bubble, its status swinging back and forth, depending on the week. But an early defeat in the Pac-12 tournament couldn’t keep the Trojans from matching the longest streak in program history with three bids in a row.

Like USC, Michigan State (19-12) enters the tournament after a swift exit in the Big Ten Conference tournament and largely uneven season. The Spartans haven’t won three in a row since early January.

But in Tom Izzo, Michigan State boasts one of the tournament’s most respected coaches. Izzo is college basketball’s active leader in Final Four appearances among coaches with eight. His 53 NCAA tournament wins rank third among active coaches.

Another trip to the NCAA tournament for the Trojans under coach Andy Enfield was by no means assured in November. USC slipped up in a season-opening loss to Enfield’s former team, Florida Gulf Coast, a team that finished 7-11 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Outside expectations for USC cratered.

It took another month or so for the Trojans to finally find their footing. But soon enough, the pieces started to fit. Sophomore Kobe Johnson took a major step forward, emerging as one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball. Freshman Tre White developed into a reliable third scorer, stepping into a major void in USC’s offense. By January, another talented freshman joined the fold, as Vincent Iwuchukwu returned from cardiac arrest to help fortify a paper-thin frontcourt.

A resounding win over UCLA in January seemed to announce the Trojans’ late arrival and their point guard’s ascent into stardom. Boogie Ellis scored 31 in that win over the Bruins and would dominate the Pac-12 from there, averaging 24 points per game and twice setting career highs in scoring over USC’s final dozen.

Still, Ellis alone couldn’t always carry an inconsistent offense. A late trip through Oregon saddled the Trojans with two more losses to non-tournament teams, including one to 11-21 Oregon State. A loss to Arizona State in the Pac-12 tournament a month later wouldn’t inspire much confidence, either.

But the selection committee had already seen enough to put USC in the field.

Now, the Trojans will have to hope they can get more out of its second-leading scorer, Drew Peterson, who has struggled through a stiff back over the past two weeks. He played through the pain in USC’s loss to Arizona State, but struggled mightily from the field, shooting two for 12.

Without him, USC may have a hard time keeping up with Michigan State, a team known to get hot from three-point range. The Spartans rank fourth in college basketball in three-point percentage.

Another prolonged cold stretch, and USC could find this tournament trip ends just as quickly as the last one.

No matter how many times she’s heard her team’s name called during the NCAA tournament selection show, Lindsay Gottlieb still gets nervous.

The USC head coach anxiously bounced her 5-month-old daughter Reese in her arms as the names ticked across the screen at a pub near USC’s campus. Her players stared at the TV with phones recording the show in anticipation of their moment.

When USC was announced as a No. 8 seed in the Seattle I Region, ending a nine-year NCAA tournament drought for the Trojans, Gottlieb threw her hands in the air and USC players yelled and danced. USC (21-9) will play No. 9 South Dakota State on Friday in Blacksburg, Va., where No. 1-seeded Virginia Tech will host.

The Trojans were picked to finish ninth in the Pac-12’s preseason poll, but will dance into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014.

“We’re trying to build something special for USC,” forward Kadi Sissoko said. “It’s been a minute since they actually won anything or been to March Madness so it’s very exciting and we’re all trying to come together and prove something.”

USC wasn’t the only team surpassing preseason expectations. UCLA began the season unranked and secured a No. 4 seed, hosting Sacramento State in the first round Saturday in the Greenville I Region. No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 12 Portland round out the four teams playing at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins are making their sixth appearance in the last seven NCAA tournaments. Since 2015, when the NCAA began using top-four seeds as host sites for the two rounds, UCLA has hosted three and advanced to the Sweet 16 every time.

“You still have to execute your game plan,” UCLA coach Cori Close said, “but if you look throughout history, being able to play at home has proven to be a pretty big advantage.”

While the Bruins are returning to the NCAA tournament after a one-year hiatus, the path back to postseason prominence has been much longer for the Trojans. USC earned an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006, clearing the first major hurdle of the program’s rebuild in Gottlieb’s second year at the helm.

The team celebrated with a watch party near campus. Athletic director Mike Bohn, donors, cheerleaders and band members packed a reception area at Rock and Reilly’s Irish Pub among players and coaches. This is the first time since 1997 that USC has sent its men’s and women’s teams to the NCAA tournament in the same year.

“We ultimately have much greater and bigger goals, Final Fours and national championships, but you have to take steps,” Gottlieb said. “And from where we were at this time last year to where we are now, it’s a really special accomplishment.”

Gottlieb noted how the team had just six players during the summer after players transferred out. The Trojans reloaded with seven incoming transfers, led by Sissoko (Minnesota) and Destiny Littleton (South Carolina). They blossomed into All-Pac-12 players along with returner Rayah Marshall, who was the only player in the Pac-12 to average a double-double with 12.6 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

Led by senior Charisma Osborne (15.5 points, 5.6 rebounds) and freshman Kiki Rice (11.7 points), the Bruins defeated Arizona and Stanford in the Pac-12 tournament en route to the championship game, where they fell to Washington State.

With the No. 1 freshman class in the country, Close received excited feedback earlier this year from WNBA and USA Basketball officials that the Bruins would be “so good next year.” But they didn’t settle for next season.

“It was like, we were never going to make it to where we are,” Close said. “So to earn a chance to play at home and watch these young people grow in the midst of having so many new faces and new players, it’s been really rewarding.”

After a disappointing first-round exit in the Pac-12 tournament, USC regrouped on campus for practice last week. The Trojans got in the March Madness mood by watching the HBO documentary “Women of Troy” chronicling USC’s rise to power when led by Cheryl Miller from 1982-86. The film brought chills to Marshall, the sophomore from L.A. said.

“It gave us a chip on our shoulder, if they can get out there and compete, we wanted to get out there and do the same thing,” Marshall said. “We wanted to represent for them. If they can do what they can do, we can at least go out there and give our all for them.”

Here’s a rundown of the matchups for the First Four and the first round of the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball tournament:

LAS VEGAS — 

After a season spent clawing its way back from the wrong side of the bubble, just one more win seemed as if it would be proof enough to assure any lingering doubters of USC’s rightful place in the NCAA tournament field. One measly victory in the conference quarterfinals, and USC could rest easy on Selection Sunday.

But there was no reassurance to be found for USC in Las Vegas, nor will there be restful nights ahead. If the committee still needed any convincing, USC didn’t make much of a case in a 77-72 loss to Arizona State.

Desmond Cambridge Jr. scored 27 points, including six three-pointers, to lead the Sun Devils.

Now USC will have to sit and wait, crossing its fingers that enough bubbles burst between now and Sunday.

The Trojans didn’t look at all like a team intending to make a statement Thursday, as they were outplayed and outhustled from start to finish by Arizona State, a team desperate to win its way into the field.

There was no such desperation from USC, at least not until near the end when the Trojans started firing at will from deep. They made three-pointers on three straight possessions, cutting Arizona State’s lead to four points.

But the hole they’d dug was too deep. For the first time since 2014, the first season of the Andy Enfield era, USC was ousted in its opening matchup of the Pac-12 tournament.

This time, it had the chops to make a deeper run. But its offense ran out of gas and didn’t find its reserves until it was too late.

Freshman Tre White would lead the way, scoring 16 points. Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson each scored 15, and Drew Peterson struggled from the field, making only two of 12 shots.

Five nights earlier, these two teams went down to the wire, despite Arizona State shooting a paltry 29% from the field, its second-worst shooting performance of the season. USC let them hang around anyway, even giving the Sun Devils a shot to send the game to overtime. It missed, and the Trojans breathed a sigh of relief, knowing their tournament hopes were probably safe.

There was no such relief to be found Thursday. Arizona State flew out to an 8-0 lead in the first minute.

Nothing came any easier for USC from there, as the Trojans looked like a team that had run out of gas.They shot a miserable 26% in the first half, with multiple scoreless stretches of five minutes or more. At one point, they turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions, prompting Enfield to throw up his hands on the sideline.

It wouldn’t be much longer before USC would do the same, left to hope that its resume was enough to earn an invite.

Selection Sunday is almost here, meaning March Madness is about to hit in full force.

The 68-team bracket for the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball tournament will be revealed on Sunday at 3 p.m. PDT on CBS. A live stream of the bracket reveal also will be streaming on NCAA.com and the March Madness Live app for iOS and Android devices.

Greg Gumbel will be hosting the selection show and will be joined by analysts Seth Davis, Jay Wright and Clark Kellogg as they look at the seedings and team selections made by the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.

Thirty-one teams will receive automatic bids, and 37 teams will make up the rest of the at-large pool. The tournament tips off Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, with the First Four games. The first round starts Thursday.

The women’s 68-team bracket will be revealed Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN.

BASEBALL

Alemany 7, St. Francis 6

Alta Loma 8, Diamond Bar 2

Anaheim 6, Garden Grove 2

Angelou 17, Middle College 6

Apple Valley 11, Sultana 1

Arcadia 19, Hoover 0

Arrowhead Christian 5, Ontario Christian 4

Arroyo 10, Keppel 0

Ayala 3, King 2

Bishop Amat 6, La Salle 3

Bonita 4, Yuma (Ariz.) Kofa 0

Bravo 5, Franklin 4

Cerritos 9, Downey 3

Citrus Valley 6, Beaumont 0

Coachella Valley 7, Desert Hot Springs 6

Damien 4, Chino Hills 2

Desert Mirage 10, Yucca Valley 3

Dos Pueblos 7, Oxnard Pacifica 5

Eagle Rock 20, Northridge 0

El Dorado 7, Anaheim Canyon 6

El Rancho 4, Whittier 2

El Toro 5, Katella 4

Elsinore 14, Patriot 0

Excelsior 12, Silverado 5

Fullerton 10, Ocean View 9

Ganesha 7, Edgewood 2

Garey 10, Pomona 0

Granada Hills 1, Birmingham 0

Hawthorne 10, Animo Leadership 9

Hemet 4, Valley View 3

Huntington Beach 10, Marina 1

La Puente 10, Bassett 3

La Serna 9, Santa Fe 5

Laguna Hills 3, Portola 1

Lancaster Desert Christian 18, Vasquez 7

Mesa Grande 13, Sherman Indian 8

Millikan 4, Narbonne 0

Monroe 6, Los Angeles 1

Moorpark 2, Camarillo 0

Northview 10, Walnut 7

Northwood 3, Beckman 2

Oak Hills 6, Hesperia 3

Oakwood 4, Buckley 3

Orange Vista 3, Rancho Christian 1

Paloma Valley 7, Moreno Valley 3

Rancho Dominguez 11, Washington 0

Redlands 2, Cajon 1

Ridgecrest Burroughs 6, Serrano 1

Riverside Poly 12, Temescal Canyon 4

Riverside Prep 4, Lakeside 2

Royal 11, Oak Park 0

San Jacinto Valley Academy 10, Anza Hamilton 0

San Marcos 4, Ventura 0

Servite 8, St. John Bosco 5

Sonora 6, Placentia Valencia 1

South Gate 4, Harbor Teacher 3

South Hills 4, Gahr 0

South Pasadena 2, San Marino 1

Torrance 4, Palos Verdes 1

Trabuco Hills 5, Edison 4

Troy 2, California 1

Twentynine Palms 8, Cathedral City 7

West Covina 12, Azusa 2

Westminster La Quinta 4, Rancho Alamitos 3

Windward 2, Brentwood 1

Woodbridge 5, Irvine University 2

SOFTBALL

Academy for Academic Excellence 16, Hesperia Christian 4

Alverno 5, St. Genevieve 4

Angelou 20, Dymally 18

Aquinas 12, Lehi (Utah) 1

Aquinas 5, Las Vegas Desert Oasis 3

Arcadia 10, Hoover 0

Arrowhead Christian 13, Ontario Christian 3

Artesia 14, Loara 2

Baldwin Park 10, Sierra Vista 0

Beaumont 3, Citrus Valley 0

Bellflower 12, Bell Gardens 8

Bonita 3, El Modena 2

Boron 13, Excelsior 0

Burbank 14, Muir 1

California 3, San Dimas 0

Camarillo 9, Oak Park 0

Canoga Park 10, Sherman Oaks CES 0

Canyon Country Canyon 13, Chatsworth 3

Capistrano Valley Christian 13, Samueli Academy 0

Carson 6, Peninsula 2

Cerritos 9, Norwalk 6

Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton 7, Chino Hills 4

Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton 7, Cypress 0

Chavez 6, Alemany 4

Costa Mesa 20, Western 4

Covina 4, Mayfair 3

Crescenta Valley 8, Rio Rancho (N.M.) 0

Douglas (Ariz.) 6, La Mirada 5

Duarte 16, Sacred Heart 1

East Valley 22, Reseda 21

Eastvale Roosevelt 8, Corona 0

El Camino Real 7, Simi Valley 4

El Modena 7, Marina 1

El Toro 3, Glendale (Ariz.) O’Connor 2

Esperanza 10, Brea Olinda 0

Fillmore 3, Grace Brethren 0

Flintridge Prep 7, Rio Hondo Prep 3

Foothill Tech 13, Oxnard Pacifica 4

Fountain Valley 8, La Habra 0

Fullerton 9, Garden Grove 0

Gahr 14, Warren 8

Ganesha 11, Edgewood 0

Garden Grove Pacifica 3, West Torrance 0

Garey 10, Pomona 0

Glenn 12, Firebaugh 0

Hacienda Heights Wilson 13, Nogales 7

Hemet 8, Redlands East Valley 3

Highland 17, Knight 5

Indio 12, Banning 3

Katella 9, Savanna 4

Keppel 12, Arroyo 2

La Habra 4, Glendale (Ariz.) Deer Valley 2

La Palma Kennedy 10, Rosary 3

La Serna 10, Santa Fe 1

Lakewood 11, Gilbert (Ariz.) Campo Verde 2

Las Vegas Arbor View 10, Wilmington Banning 0

Los Alamitos 9, Las Vegas Shadow Ridge 0

Los Angeles Marshall 9, Garfield 0

Mater Dei 3, Queen Creek (Ariz.) Casteel 1

Mater Dei 4, Saugus 3

Mayfield 8, Alhambra 7

Mesa Grande 6, Sherman Indian 5

Millikan 12, Las Vegas Palo Verde 1

Moorpark 13, Royal 6

Moreno Valley 10, Vista del Lago 9

Murrieta Mesa 7, El Toro 1

Norco 6, Yuma (Ariz.) Cibola 3

Northwood 10, Laguna Hills 0

Orange Lutheran 5, Crescenta Valley 0

Paraclete 18, Gardena Serra 1

Pioneer 20, Workman 6

Ramona Convent 3, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 0

Redlands 8, Aztec (N.M.) 4

Rivera 16, Los Angeles Jordan 4

Riverside North 7, Elsinore 6

Riverside Prep 11, Fontana 5

San Diego Cathedral 11, Trabuco Hills 1

San Pedro 9, Port of Los Angeles 1

Santa Margarita 6, Las Vegas Desert Oasis 3

Santa Paula 10, Nordhoff 0

Schurr 2, Rowland 0

South Gate 14, King/Drew 1

St. Paul 4, Sonora 0

Sunny Hills 6, Downey 0

Torrance 11, Huntington Beach 1

Torrance 5, Grand Terrace 1

Trabuco Hills 10, Lehi (Utah) 6

Troy 8, Yorba Linda 6

Tucson (Ariz.) Salpointe 8, Redlands 0

Twentynine Palms 11, Cathedral City 1

Valencia 18, Castaic 0

Vasquez 18, Lancaster Desert Christian 1

Venice 4, El Segundo 1

Viewpoint 12, Oakwood 1

Villa Park 3, Phoenix Greenway 0

West Torrance 7, Broomfield (N.M.) 2

Western Christian 12, Orangewood Academy 1

Westminster La Quinta 13, Magnolia 3

Whittier Christian 3, Los Altos 2

Woodbridge 6, Beckman 4

For the next week there will be a missing piece in the Clippers’ rotation.

Norman Powell remains out of the lineup because of his injured left shoulder.

Yet after claiming consecutive wins during this week, the Clippers believe they’ve found something that had been missing during their recent five-game losing streak: maybe, just maybe, momentum.

“We’re figuring it out, I think we’re getting better game-by-game, definitely from these last two games,” reserve guard Eric Gordon said Friday, a day ahead of a matinee against the streaking Knicks. “The sense of urgency is there. A lot of those losses came down to one possession and now we’re figuring it out a little bit more.”

By holding Memphis to 17 fourth-quarter points Sunday — 34 fewer than the Grizzlies scored in their third-quarter landslide — and then following that by limiting Toronto to 38% shooting, including just 39% on shots taken inside the paint, the Clippers (35-33) have found in their last five quarters what coach Tyronn Lue called a defensive “blueprint.”

“I thought we did a good job of talking, getting back in transition at times, limiting them to one shot,” Kawhi Leonard said Wednesday. “Communication was pretty good. We’ve been talking about the guys that are talking, need to talk more and whoever’s not talking needs to start talking.”

Optimism has resurfaced because of the health of All-Star forward Paul George. He can “do anything and everything I want to do” again after an unspecified right knee issue had led him to be limited both in minutes and how he felt he could play after the All-Star break.

It might be a factor into why he has attacked the paint more off the dribble, with 35% of his shots during the last two games coming within 10 feet of the rim, an uptick from his season average of 27%.

“I knew I had to play better on both sides of the ball,” George said Wednesday. “A lot of how this season goes will come down to how I play and my performance. So I’m always going to take the personal challenge of getting better and, I’m a guy that likes to lead by example, so if I’m not holding my weight how am I going to inspire or influence my teammates to hold theirs?”

Still missing despite the self-professed improvement are two important, and related, elements. Powell is a candidate for the NBA’s top reserve this season but suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder March 2. He will remain out for the next week before being re-evaluated. Powell has been able to do on-court work during practice, and in some cases has worked out multiple times per day. Lue anticipated Powell would continue to participate minimally in Friday’s practice, but doubted Powell would be ready for contact.

With Powell out, Lue said he still is unsure which lineup combinations work best together. There is no doubt any rotation decisions will be built up from a foundation of starters Leonard, George, Marcus Morris Sr. and Ivica Zubac. Deciding how deep his rotation goes from there, and which players are best suited to close games together, is the primary challenge, Lue said, with only 14 games remaining in the regular season.

“The only consistency we’ve had this year — and the last couple years — has been Marcus, Kawhi, PG and Zu, and so that’s the only consistency we got right now, and so we got to continue to keep working with that,” Lue said. “But then the guys on the bench just seeing how they fit in and what role they can play and who they fit well with is gonna be the hardest thing.”

How the Clippers finished their most recent victories underscored Lue’s evolving decision-making. After point guard Russell Westbrook played Sunday’s entire fourth quarter against Memphis, the Clippers winning those 12 minutes by 21 points, he didn’t play the final 17 minutes Wednesday against Toronto as Lue opted to stay with Terance Mann and Gordon the entire fourth quarter.

“T Lue is going to play … who he thinks has been playing well throughout the game or what he feels,” Leonard said, “and everybody knows that on the team.”

While discussing whether to sign Westbrook as a free agent last month, one of the primary hurdles was seen as gauging the former NBA most valuable player’s acceptance of a role whose scope could change night to night. Lue praised Westbrook’s buy-in as “100%” and it has been seen in his willingness to play differently than he has in the past.

A ballhandler in pick-and-roll plays his entire career, Westbrook set screens on consecutive possessions to open the second half against Toronto with immediate success, the veteran rolling to the basket and making plays that led to four points.

“He’s been doing a lot of things on the fly, but he’s been great,” Lue said.

LAS VEGAS — 

Adem Bona sprawled on the court, using every inch of his massive wingspan to chase the loose ball. His immediate grimace and clutching of his left shoulder area led to wincing from an entire fan base.

UCLA could not absorb another serious injury.

Already down their best defender, the Bruins lost another starter midway through the second half when Bona stayed down for a lengthy stretch before getting up and walking slowly to the locker room Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.

The absence of Bona alongside Jaylen Clark, who was out because of a lower-leg injury, left UCLA with a lineup that no one expected in the second half of its Pac-12 tournament semifinal against Oregon.

Starting point guard Tyger Campbell found himself on the court with reserves Abramo Canka, Dylan Andrews, Will McClendon and Kennth Nwuba. With his team in trouble, Campbell took over with an array of moves, causing the decibel level inside the arena to rise with each one. There was a long jumper that he banked in. A crossover dribble followed by a jumper. A three-pointer. Another jumper that forced the Ducks to call a timeout as Oregon coach Dana Altman scrunched his face in disgust.

For the first time all season, Campbell was in the full “Steph mode” that coach Mick Cronin had prescribed before the first game. The flurry of points carried the second-ranked and top-seeded Bruins to a 75-56 victory over the fourth-seeded Ducks.

Bona returned to the bench to cheer on his team to its 12th consecutive victory, celebrating two massive blocks from Nwuba. Bona’s status going forward was not immediately known, a team spokesman said.

Campbell finished with 20 of his 28 points in the second half and Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 18 points for the Bruins (29-4), who will play the winner of the late game between second-seeded Arizona and sixth-seeded Arizona State in the championship Saturday night.

Will Richardson scored 10 points for the Ducks (19-14), who might have lost their last chance at securing a NCAA tournament bid.

UCLA was literally cursing itself at halftime, Mac Etienne uttering profanity on his way off the court after missing a gimme at the rim in the final second of the first half off a great pass from Campbell.

The Bruins’ 32-30 lead at that point came courtesy of tight defense and a nice burst off the bench from Andrews. The freshman guard followed a floater with a jumper before throwing a perfect lob to Bona for a monstrous dunk. Bona had to leave late in the first half after picking up two fouls in an 11-second span, but teammate Amari Bailey generated the biggest roars of the early going when he threw down a one-handed breakaway dunk to put UCLA up 30-26.

There was more celebrating — and worrying — to come.

SACRAMENTO — 

When Caleb Foster goes into attack mode, close the blinds, and get ready for superhero-like action moves. The Duke-bound senior guard from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High doesn’t care who’s in the way — he just scores and creates havoc.

At Friday night’s Division I boys’ basketball state championship game at Golden 1 Center, Livermore Granada had 7-foot center Andrew McKeever. Foster’s drives to the basket helped send McKeever to the sideline with five fouls with 4:42 left, causing coach Matt Sargeant to shout, “He’s out! He’s out!”

It was the last breath of life for Granada. Notre Dame’s fantastic trio of Foster, Gonzaga commit Dusty Stromer and Houston commit Mercy Miller was too much.

Foster’s offense propelled the Knights to their first state championship in school history, a 67-58 victory over Granada. The Knights led by as many as 16 points in the first half. Foster finished with 33 points, the best individual scoring performance in Division I state championship history and left little doubt he’s worthy of All-American recognition even if he was denied selection to the McDonald’s All-American Game.

“He was excellent,” Sargeant said.

Miller started the game with a dunk and eight quick points. Foster ended the first quarter with a three-pointer and seven points. Foster was just beginning to heat up and ended the half with 18 points.

Both players came from Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy. It took weeks for Notre Dame to develop the chemistry needed to win big games. It happened in February and March. Four wins over Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, a double-overtime loss to Studio City Harvard-Westlake, a blowout win over Santa Ana Mater Dei, and victories over Torrance Bishop Montgomery and San Diego St. Augustine indicated the Knights had learned to play as a unit. Critical in the transition was Stromer accepting a lesser offensive role.

Stromer sat out his sophomore season, the abbreviated COVID-19 season of 2020-21, then developed into a standout player his junior year, averaging nearly 20 points a game. There are few more versatile players. Whatever Sargeant asked him to do this season, Stromer quickly and efficiently complied. Stromer was having back pains this week, and Sargeant said he probably shouldn’t be playing. “The toughness was unreal,” he said.

On Friday, Stromer, the tallest Knight in a lineup of five guards, was asked at times to guard McKeever and focus on getting rebounds.

“It’s another example of his versatility at both ends of the court,” Sargeant said.

With Stromer contributing as a rebounder and defender, it freed the Duke-bound Foster to ignite the offense. Foster scored 12 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. Against Granada’s 2-3 zone, the Knights found an opening on the baseline, allowing Dante Ogbu to connect on a pair of three-pointers. The Knights ended the half ahead 39-27.

Now it’s on to Gonzaga for Stromer and Duke for Foster. They’ve earned themselves a special place in Notre Dame’s sports history book.

“It means everything to me,” Stromer said of winning the championship. “I promised my teammates last year I’d do this.”

Alyssa Thompson spent the day before her first professional soccer match doing homework.

And we’re not talking about studying formations, looking at game film or practicing technique. Instead, Thompson curled up in a corner at the Angel City practice facility and worked on a high school essay.

Given her talent and poise, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Thompson, the NWSL team’s biggest and most lucrative offseason signing, is just a teenager with three more months at Harvard-Westlake to finish. For her teammates, some of whom were preparing for college when Thompson was born, the homework has become a source of amusement.

“They’re just like, ‘Oh, I remember when I had to do that,’” Thompson said. “It was funny that I was doing schoolwork [when] we’re all having practice.”

On the field, however, Thompson was giving the lessons in her Angel City debut Wednesday, starting and scoring a breathtaking goal in a 3-0 win over Mexico’s Club América in a preseason friendly at BMO Stadium.

If there was any doubt Thompson belonged at this level, she dispelled it in the first five minutes.

“Out on the field you couldn’t tell that she’s an 18-year-old,” Angel City coach Freya Coombe said.

A year ago, Thompson was playing soccer in an all-boys’ league and running track at Harvard-Westlake. Since then, she’s played in a U-20 World Cup, appeared in two games for the senior national team and was taken with the No. 1 pick in January’s NWSL draft, signing a three-year contract with Angel City.

Now comes the transition to the pro game.

Thompson said she attended school — English class — Wednesday morning with her sister, then fought off nervousness by sleeping in the car as her father drove her to the game in the afternoon.

But, she added: “I feel like I’m ready.”

She played like it Wednesday, gathering the ball just inside the Club América end in the fifth minute, dribbling through three defenders and outrunning a fourth on a 40-yard dash up the center of the field, then neatly rounding goalkeeper Itzel González and slotting the ball into the center of the net with her left foot.

As goals go, it was spectacular. As goals go on a teenager’s first real touch as a professional, it was otherworldly.

“I’m still like, soaking it in,” Thompson, who played 76 minutes, said as she nervously giggled her way through a postgame news conference. “It’s still shocking, but it’s just an amazing feeling.”

“It definitely helped relax me,” she said of the goal. “I just felt like everything that I prepared for up to this moment has helped me score that goal. It definitely took some weight off my shoulders.”

But the goal wasn’t Thompson’s only contribution on the night. Playing as the center forward in Angel City’s 4-3-3 formation, she had a presence on both ends of the field, with her ballhandling and sprinter’s speed giving América fits. That combination nearly led to another score in the 33rd minute with only a late two-handed stab from González keeping the ball out of the goal.

Thompson came close to doubling the lead again in the opening minute of the second half, chipping a ball forward for Claire Emslie who beat González cleanly only to be ruled offside. Paige Nielsen eventually got the second goal in the 56th minute before Simone Charley, Thompson’s replacement, closed out the scoring in the 85th minute.

With her pro debut out of the way, Thompson’s next milestone is the NWSL season-opener later this month, then her prom and high school graduation — events that are also sure to amuse her teammates, some of whom have kids of their own. Enrollment at Stanford was supposed to follow, but if Thompson had second thoughts about passing up college for the pros, they were dispelled Wednesday.

“Going into this environment, I’m happy with the choice that I made, and I’m going to put everything that I have into this,” she said. “I’m going to try not to look back on what could have happened and just be in the now and what I can do.”