A’ja Wilson sets career scoring mark as South Carolina guts out a win over Rutgers

As Dawn Staley put it, it wasn’t pretty, but No. 3 South Carolina women’s basketball pulled out a gritty 78-68 win over Rutgers on Friday in the opening round of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida.

Senior forward A’ja Wilson recorded her fifth straight double-double of the season and broke her career scoring mark, chipping in 33 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks, three assists and a steal, while guards Lindsey Spann and Tyasha Harris added 17 and 9 points, respectively.

Nearly half of Wilson’s points came from the free throw line, where she was a frequent visitor Friday, shooting 17 from the charity stripe and making 15. Her personal best mark came in the waning seconds of the game as Rutgers continued to hang around, with a missed layup Wilson recovered herself for a put-back to give the Gamecocks (5-0) a double-digit lead and put things on ice.

“It's great to have an A'ja Wilson in your back pocket,” Staley said. “She shows up every game that we need her, and truly we needed her today.”

The story of the game early on, however, was turnovers — Staley said before the contest that she was concerned about the swarming press defense of the Scarlet Knights, and Rutgers delivered, forcing the Gamecocks into a season-high 18 turnovers.

But South Carolina responded in kind, forcing Rutgers to hand over the ball 20 times, the Gamecocks’ highest defensive mark since their season-opener against Alabama State.

As a result, the pace of the game was frentic but sloppy, with as many turnovers as made field goals through three quarters. Rutgers’ aggressive defensive style also resulted in plenty of free throws, and USC responded with its best game of the season in that area, shooting 88 percent.

“That's how March is and that's how April's going to be for us,” Wilson said of the game’s competitive nature. “That's something I kept telling my teammates in the huddle, just keep our composure. Don't let them shake us too much.”

The Scarlet Knights were able to use the chaos, however, to keep the contest close despite only leading for 3:53 early in the first quarter. With 4:24 to play, they closed to within three points of the Gamecocks, led by 20 points from guard Tyler Scaife.

A large part of Rutgers’ offense throughout the early season has been its deep rotation, and it continued that Friday, with 14 players getting playing time and reserves contributing more than half of the team’s points.

By contrast, South Carolina had just five bench points on the afternoon, and Wilson and Spann accounted for 64 percent of the USC offensive output.

After the game, Staley wrote on Twitter that the game “wasn’t pretty but we will take it.”

With the win, South Carolina advances to face St. John’s in the tournament semifinals on Saturday at 5 p.m.

This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 3:26 PM with the headline "A’ja Wilson sets career scoring mark as South Carolina guts out a win over Rutgers."