The South Carolina women’s basketball team has rebounded well from their loss against No. 1 ranked UCLA earlier this season.
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The South Carolina women’s basketball team has rebounded well from their loss against No. 1 ranked UCLA earlier this season.
The Gamecocks are 16-1 and ranked No. 2 in the nation behind the Bruins. Four games into the SEC season, the team looks unstoppable, easily taking care of every team on the opposing side.
South Carolina is fresh off a win against then-No. 5 ranked Texas. The Gamecocks toppled the Longhorns, handing them their second loss of the season.
In that game, South Carolina shot over 50% from the floor while Texas struggled, shooting just 28%. Despite giving up 20 offensive rebounds and losing the turnover battle 20-12, the Gamecocks went on to defeat the Longhorns 67-50 for their fifth-ranked win against a top-25 opponent and fourth against a top-10.
“ They seem to really focus in when there's a number beside our opponent,” Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley said after the Texas game. “ They just practice a little better, more focused, they talk less. I mean, they knew the intangibles of this game will play a huge role in us winning or losing.
South Carolina started SEC play with an 83-52 win against Missouri on the road. The team then went on to beat Mississippi State 95-68 in Starkville and Texas A&M 90-49 at home.
In all three of those games, the team shot the ball better than their opponents and at least four South Carolina players scored 10 points.
“ It's all about taking good shots,” Staley said. “You lose games taking bad shots. And for us, we're finally getting to that point where we're taking better shots, and we're taking rhythm shots. And it's paying off for us.”
The Gamecocks are a team that relies on their depth, and that has not changed in conference play. Often the team’s top-scorers come off the bench, and anyone can contribute in multiple ways on any given night.
With the recent ACL injury to Ashlyn Watkins, other players must continue to step up to fill that hole.
”Next man up,” guard Bree Hall said. “Everybody's got to step up and be the person that we know they can be and just come off the bench ready to play.”
Five players are averaging at least 10 points per game. Tessa Johnson and Chloe Kitts average 10 each, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Te-Hina Paopao average 11 and freshman Joyce Edwards leads the team with just over 11 points per game.
Against Texas, Paopao, Kitts and Edwards all hit double-figures. Fulwiley, Raven Johnson and Sania Feagin had eight. Every player that played more than 10 minutes scored at least four.
“I think the biggest thing for us is that we play for each other,” Hall said. “I think that's been the biggest thing since last year. We've really honed in on the fact that we play for each other, and so when we play for each other, things just fall right in place.”
While the offense was impressive, the defense has been even more notable during the first few conference games. Only Mississippi State managed to score more than 60 points.
The Gamecocks held a high-powered Texas offense to just 50 points, by far their lowest total of the season. The Longhorns have three 100-point games this season and eight more 90-point games.
Texas’ leading scorer, Madison Booker, was held to seven points on 3-19 shooting. Kyla Oldacre was the only Longhorn in double-figures, scoring 11 points on 5-11 shooting.
“ Our guards played defense really well,” Feagin said. “ We always tell them that we have their back … being there helping our teammates, having each other's back, It's giving them confidence to D-up really hard.”
The Gamecocks will look to continue their stellar play on both ends of the floor during a tough upcoming stretch of games against ranked teams. The team’s next four games will be against ranked competition and it has three more ranked foes on its schedule after that, including a rematch against Texas in Austin.
South Carolina will travel to No. 19 Alabama on Thursday before returning home for a game against No. 13 Oklahoma on Sunday. The team then hosts No. 5 LSU before traveling to play No. 15 Tennessee.
“ We're still formulating who we are, and this league will tell us,” Staley said. “This league will tell us who we are. It will define who we are.”
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