Gamecocks seeking perfect SEC record, program history against Texas A&M on Senior Day
South Carolina women’s basketball is set to celebrate its veteran players before the final game of the regular season on Sunday.
Then, the No. 1 Gamecocks will take the floor and go up against yet another ranked opponent in No. 12 Texas A&M.
It’s a fitting end to a slate that has featured 11 other games against teams in the top 25. And it means that while the emotions pregame may be high, USC and seniors Tyasha Harris and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan will have to quickly lock back in.
“I mean, you dream about this day. You see all your former teammates go through it,” Harris said. “And now it’s here for me and it’s kinda like surreal about it.”
South Carolina is already set as the SEC regular season champ and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. But a victory would still mark a number of milestones — the program’s longest winning streak ever at 23 games, the program’s second ever perfect conference season and the program’s first undefeated regular season at home in five years.
“(Going 16-0) is gonna mean a lot, just because when we won a national championship, we weren’t undefeated in the SEC,” Harris said. “And so now it’s like a new milestone, just being undefeated in the SEC, and just keep pushing forward.”
But A&M is no slouch. Despite losing its last game to Alabama at home, the Aggies sit tied for third place in the conference despite missing preseason All-American Chennedy Carter for seven games in the middle of league play.
“Their ability to have played without (Carter) and played well — they got a lot of great pieces, and they are a team that if you look at them, if you look at their starting lineup, they have the most experience of any starting lineup in our league,” coach Dawn Staley said. “Unfortunately they weren’t able to play a whole lot of it because of Chennedy’s injury, but they’ve gotten better because of it, and I think Chennedy’s gotten better because of it as well. I don’t think yesterday’s game is any indication of how good Texas A&M and the challenge we have in front of us.”
Carter certainly has the respect of the Gamecocks — she’s averaging 21.7 points per game when she does play and 27.5 in two career games against USC. She and Harris are also close friends from their time with USA Basketball and will likely go head-to-head often on Sunday.
“Chennedy’s an elite player. I’d say she’s one of the toughest people that I’ve ever seen,” Harris said. “She has an offensive game that is out of this world, but we’re just going to try to make her tired and see if she can miss more shots that she makes.”
In Texas A&M’s two losses this season when Carter was fully available (she was injured halfway through a loss to LSU), she has shot 13 of 42 from the field. And South Carolina has overcome individual star power before this season, most notably defeating Kentucky twice while SEC Player of the Year candidate Rhyne Howard averaged 26 points in those games.
Still, the main focus Sunday will be on the two Gamecock seniors, who were just freshmen when the Gamecocks claimed the program’s first national championship in 2017 and are now trying to lead this year’s talented rookies back to the Final Four.
“Every time you get to this time of the year, your seniors are the ones that have been through it all. They’ve put you through a whole lot, you’ve put them through a whole lot,” Staley said. “But this is the day in which you probably just leave them alone and allow them to just take in the atmosphere, take in it being their last regular season game, but also reflect on the impact that they’ve had on our program, our community, our university, and both Ty and Kiki have been tremendous in being givers of our program.”
WHEN DO THE GAMECOCKS PLAY NEXT?
Who: No. 1 South Carolina (28-1, 15-0 SEC) vs. No. 12 Texas A&M (22-6, 10-5 SEC)
When: Noon Sunday
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: ESPN2
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
South Carolina’s projected lineup: G Tyasha Harris, G Zia Cooke, G Brea Beal, F Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, F/C Aliyah Boston
South Carolina’s last game: Won 100-67 on the road against Florida
Texas A&M’s projected lineup: G Chennedy Carter, G Kayla Wells, G Shambria Washingon, F N’dea Jones, C Ciera Johnson
Texas A&M’s last game: Lost 76-63 to Alabama at home
Last meeting: South Carolina won last season, 60-57, at Texas A&M
Warren Nolan’s R1 projection: South Carolina 78, Texas A&M 60
This story was originally published February 29, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
