Gamecocks’ Kaela Davis rediscovers her shot at the right time

This was not the way it was supposed to go.

Kaela Davis left a burgeoning Greatest Of All Time career at Georgia Tech so she could pursue championships. Individual awards were nice, but they weren’t helping her advance in the NCAA tournament.

After waiting a year at South Carolina, practicing, but not playing, and knowing in her heart she could have made those shots the Gamecocks missed in last year’s Sweet 16, she was eligible and ready. Davis cooked Ohio State for 37 points in USC’s season-opener and that served notice – USC was already one of the most formidable teams in the country and it just got a whole lot better.

By Feb. 19, the Gamecocks suddenly weren’t. And Davis felt it the worst.

“I shot the ball horribly at Missouri,” she said. “That was just something that, like I said, I stuck that in the back of my head and I just tried to carry it with me.”

With Alaina Coates ineffective (later revealed to be a sprained ankle she’s still fighting), USC needed somebody to step up. By no means was it Davis’ fault USC lost that game.

But compared to that Ohio State performance ...

Wow.

Davis was 2-of-11 from the field for six points. She clanged all six of her 3-point tries. She was trying to equal every miss by making the next one, but every succeeding shot was more off-balance, more out-of-control than the one before.

Her seventh and final turnover was rushing pell-mell into the lane in a tie game when the Gamecocks were trying to burn clock and take as close to a last shot as possible. The resulting charging foul gave Missouri the ball for the last shot, which Sophie Cunningham made to win and knock USC out of first place.

“I mean, I hate to lose. No one likes losing,” Davis said. “I think in my head personally, I knew I didn't want to feel that again.”

Dawn Staley left her alone. She didn’t want to add more pressure to a player already facing a mountain of it. Yet she knew USC’s postseason wouldn’t be much without Davis.

“We need her,” Staley said.

They found her.

Davis slammed the re-set button of her season through the control panel, scoring in double figures in three of her last four games as she helped USC clinch another SEC regular-season championship and a third SEC tournament title. She was brilliant in Greenville, scoring 17 and 23 points to earn all-tournament honors and taking her turn denying first-team All-SEC selections Makayla Epps and Victoria Vivians their shots.

The difference was striking. Making shots is making shots. Sometimes they just don’t go in.

But Davis was so much better in her approach, squaring her feet, driving the lane, making sure she could get an open look and knock it down. The frenzied first quarters USC has displayed over the past three games were triggered by Davis.

The smile never left but it’s a lot wider these days. She was talking about her team but also herself.

“We found a way to just fight through it, be better because of it,” she said. “I think it's all coming together at the right time.”

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Gamecocks’ Kaela Davis rediscovers her shot at the right time."