It's a lot to ask for a true freshman to put the weight of a team's season on her back in the final minutes of a Sweet 16 game, but USC's JuJu Watkins has never been a typical freshman.

Not coming into college as the No. 1-ranked national recruit. Not as she went through the season as the second-leading scorer in the country behind Iowa star Caitlin Clark. Or as she broke legend Cheryl Miller's freshman scoring record for the Trojans.

So, yes, this was going to be her moment Saturday as the No. 1-seeded USC women's basketball team found itself down 3 points to No. 5 Baylor with about 4 minutes remaining.

Sure enough, after Kaitlyn Davis hit 1 of 2 foul shots for USC, Watkins fed an assist into the paint to Clarice Akunwafo to tie it up and then the freshman phenom delivered the next nine Trojans points to help them pull away for a 74-70 win in Portland, Oregon, to advance to the Elight Eight for the first time since 1994 and a matchup Monday night with No. 3 UConn.

That capped a 30-point performance for Watkins despite a tough shooting night (8 of 28 overall) as she made up for it with clutch free throws (12 of 13 overall) and elite court vision to leverage the extra defensive pressure thrown at her.

"It's hard to put into words. Again, as a freshman, you see it, the poise is innate for her. That's who she is," USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. "We track, obviously, their [biometrics] and all that, and she plays so hard she's always exerting the most energy. But in terms of you can just measure someone's kind of pulse, she just is even-keeled, and it's really cool the way that she plays. She cares. She's a winner. Nobody's going to rattle her. Not officials, not another team, not teammates.

"It's something to see, and I think it's what makes her a great one and is going to make her one of the greatest ones."

This Trojans team has never been a one-player show, though. McKenzie Forbes added 14 points for USC (29-5), Rayah Marshall had 11 points and 16 rebounds, Kayla Padilla scored 8 and Davis chipped in 7 points.

But Baylor (26-8) had taken control of the momentum after outscoring USC 26-16 in the third quarter to go up 57-53. Jada Walker later put the Bears ahead 64-61 with 4:19 remaining.

That's when Watkins knew it was her time to take over. She drove down the right side and flipped a pass to Davis, who was open near the basket and drew the foul, making one of those two ensuing free throws.

The next time down court, Watkins drove and fed Akunwafo for the layup to tie it at 64-64.

After a Baylor miss, Watkins grabbed the rebound and went end to end for a layup and free throw, putting USC up 67-64 with 3:13 remaining.

On the other end, Watkins delivered a block to give the ball back to the Trojans, and while she missed her 3-pointer on that possession, Watkins would get to the free throw line with 1:49 on the clock and make both shots to push the lead to 69-64.

Baylor answered back with a Sarah Andrews 3-pointer but turned it over on its next possession, and Watkins went to the line with 26 seconds on the clock while pushing the lead to 71-67 with two more makes.

Andrews hit another 3-pointer with 22.8 seconds left -- on a fortunate bank shot -- to make it a one-point game, but Watkins was unflinching while being sent back to the line and making two more foul shots with 19 seconds left.

After Andrews missed her final 3-point attempt, Marshall went to the line with 8 seconds left and made one of two foul shots to seal the win.

Heading into those final minutes, Gottlieb had shared a few words with Watkins near the sideline.

"I'm not going to lie, I don't really remember," Watkins said afterward. "I think it was just a collective sense of urgency. I mean, just knowing what was on the line and our position, us being down during that stretch. So it was just a matter of turning the game around. And I know I had to do something. So I was glad that I got the opportunity to help my team with some free throws and stuff like that."

Said Gottlieb: "The conversation at 4 minutes, it was me asking her, I'm trying to empower her more, where can I get it to you? Like, I didn't love her at the top and they could just throw a body. That's when I started trying to get it to her elbow and let her make plays there. I think that's when she dimed one to somebody off that drive and she gets in her space. How can I get it to make it difficult on defense and easy for her to see her reads? And other people do a really good job of playing off of her as well."

USC's veteran leaders never had a doubt in their freshman teammate in those pensive final minutes.

"She's a competitor. I can trust her with my life," Marshall said. "Like, when it comes down to winning, she going to do what she has to do."

Added Forbes: "I'd just add on to that, JuJu's a winner and we see the work she puts in. We don't lack confidence. We have all the trust in the world. Like I said before, she's a playmaker. She gets off the ball when they come to her, getting our bigs a lot of easy dump-downs. We've seen that time and time again throughout the season, all the way back to when we played Penn State in the Bahamas."

That last free throw by Marshall with 8 seconds left was huge too, though, as it made it a two-possession game and essentially stamped the Trojans' ticket to the Elite Eight.

"I didn't purposely try to [be the one to get to the line there]. I always look for JuJu and Kenzie. I seen a ton of green jerseys around JuJu. Before I could get off it, it was Baylor jerseys swarming me. I go to the line. I remember just watching JuJu at the line all game. I was praying, 'God, please let her make this, please let her make this.' You know what? Now it's my turn. Let me call in my inner JuJu, knock down this first free throw, and after that I just kind of rejoiced," Marshall said.

This was Watkins' 14th 30-point game this season as she moved into second place on the all-time NCAA freshman scoring list with 891 points, passing Kelsey Mitchell (Ohio State) and now standing 7 points behind the all-time freshman scoring leader Tina Hutchinson of San Diego State, who scored 898 points in 1984.

And yet, this wasn't even Watkins at her peak as she struggled with her shot and made just 2 of 11 3-pointers. Yet, therein is the greatness of Watkins -- her impact is so thorough across the board that even when her shots aren't falling she still shines as the best player on the court when it matters most.

"It wasn't my best night, but honestly, just doing whatever it is to win, I think that's priority always," Watkins said. "So whether it's defensively, making the right play, getting off of it, stuff like that, just whatever I need to do."