South Carolina strolls by Clemson on Spann’s stellar 3-point night
Make that an Elite Eight.
For the eighth time in a row, South Carolina women’s basketball (3-0) tamed Clemson, cruising on the road to an easy 66-36 win Thursday night. It was also USC’s sixth consecutive win against the Tigers by 20 or more points.
In Littlejohn Coliseum, where Gamecock fans seemed almost as numerous as Tiger supporters thanks to four busloads the team sent from Columbia, USC started slowly, leading just 5-4 halfway through the first quarter.
From there, things were never close again, as Clemson shot 18 percent from the field in the first half and redshirt senior Lindsey Spann powered the Gamecock offense from beyond the arc, going 4-for-5 on 3-pointers in the first half and finishing with a season-high 20 points.
Spann ended the game 6-for-7 from 3 and is now 12-for-19 on the season.
“I’m shooting when I’m open,” Spann summed things up. “My teammates are finding me in transition, finding me when I’m running to open spots, things like that. So I’m just gonna keep shooting as long as I stay open.”
Spann’s best season mark as an undergrad at Penn State was 33.7 percent, where she was a prolific shooter from long distance. So far this season, she ranks outside the nation’s top 50 in 3-point attempts, but has been brutally efficent, ranking in the top 15 in 3-pointers made.
That efficency has expanded South Carolina’s offense in new ways, according to Clemson coach Audra Smith.
“Before Spann was there, you could kind of really pack in it, but now you can’t,” Smith said. “She’s awesome. ... When you have a kid like that can knock down the 3, that really stretches your defense. You gotta find her, you gotta guard her.”
Meanwhile, senior star A’ja Wilson followed up a career-high in points against Maryland on Monday with her third consecutive double double, recording 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Clemson did not make a 3-pointer through the first three quarters and also lost the battle inside, getting outrebounded 49-36. The Tigers finished with more turnovers than field goals.
By midway through the fourth quarter, all of South Carolina’s starters were on the bench and the reserves took over. All but one Gamecock scored, and freshman Bianca Jackson ended up leading the team in minutes and assists, with seven.
But Wilson said the team’s overall performance was unsatisfactory. The Gamecocks shot 41 percent from the field and went through several stretches where they failed to connect on field goals or missed defensive assignments.
“We could’ve played a lot better. We weren’t very disciplined when it came to some things, and Clemson found that, and they executed when they could,” Wilson said. “So I don’t think we had a great performance tonight, but it’s a win, so I’ll take it.”
It was also the last time Wilson, a South Carolina native, will beat Clemson. Before the matchup, she had said she considered the rivalry as important as any of South Carolina’s other games against top opponents, but after Thursday’s game, she joked about sheding a tear over the series while talking more about the improvements the Gamecocks needed to make. Still, she said she was happy to grab another win against the Tigers.
“Of course it’s great to get a win over Clemson,” Wilson said. “I was sitting on the bench one time, and I was like, ‘Dang, this is my last time playing here.’ ”
South Carolina returns home to face Wofford on Sunday at Colonial Life Arena.
This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 8:46 PM with the headline "South Carolina strolls by Clemson on Spann’s stellar 3-point night."