South Carolina women cruise to season-opening win in Bianca Jackson’s homecoming
Bianca Jackson came home, and South Carolina made itself at home at Alabama State on Sunday, as the Gamecocks cruised past the Hornets, 94-38, in their season opener.
ASU, coached by Jackson’s mother Freda Freeman-Jackson, grabbed the game’s opening bucket at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome. After that, however, the Hornets were quickly overwhelmed by Dawn Staley’s squad, who received scoring contributions from every available player and went on a 26-8 run into the second quarter that put things away.
Jackson herself finished the game with 13 points, three assists and three rebounds in front of a friendly hometown crowd that cheered her in pregame introductions and any time she sank a basket.
“It was a really good feeling,” Jackson said of her reception. “I got a lot of people here, a lot of friends and family and a lot of people I went to school with were here, so it felt good to be here in the hometown.”
She also connected on 3 of 6 3-point attempts, with all of those makes coming in the third quarter after a slow start.
“I thought my teammates did a good job of getting me the ball. I was kinda struggling a little bit in the first half, but they kept talking to me, kept me encouraged and did a good job of helping me get some shots,” Jackson said.
Jackson’s barrage from long range was part of 25 total 3-pointers that the Gamecocks took after attempting 30 in their exhibition game against Lander last week. And although the team has made just 30.9 percent of those attempts, Staley said they will continue to fire away.
“We will be a very good 3-point shooting team,” Staley said. “That’s something that we’ve ingrained in them in the summer and throughout our preseason practices: We’re going to push the ball up and get you open looks. They’re going to have to knock them down.”
Those 3-pointers paired well with the up-tempo style USC showed in its exhibition and which was on display again, as the Gamecocks racked up 81 possessions and scored 34 points off 33 turnovers.
“I think that’s a start, but I don’t think that’s where we want to be at,” junior guard Te’a Cooper said of the turnover numbers. “We got a lot to work on.”
On the offensive side, Cooper led USC in scoring with 17 points, playing her first competitive game in nearly three years after losing two seasons to injury and transfer. She admitted afterward to some nerves pregame, but said that her teammates kept her calm, much like they did for Jackson.
“It felt great. I was a little nervous at the beginning, but my teammates made me feel better, they calmed me down, and everything went well afterwards,” Cooper said.
Junior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan also posted a strong game, starting as South Carolina’s lone forward on the floor and posting three vicious blocks, six rebounds and 11 points.
“(She’s) a shot blocker,” Staley said of Herbert Harrigan. “What we have to do is keep her emotions in check. She’s gonna be a big playmaker for us, but at this point, she’s very easily tipped.”
Now, South Carolina will return home to play in-state rival Clemson on Thursday at Colonial Life Arena. That game will also feature some mixed feelings for one Gamecock, as guard Nelly Perry played for the Tigers before transferring as a grad student to USC.
This story was originally published November 11, 2018 at 5:52 PM.