No fireworks this time, but South Carolina blows by Missouri for rivalry revenge

Dawn Staley said over and over that she wanted South Carolina and Missouri’s women’s basketball game on Monday to just be about the game, not the aftermath of last year’s game that involved a small fight, accusations of fan misconduct and a lawsuit.

She got just that, and a win to go along with it, as the Gamecocks (13-5, 5-1 SEC) rolled by the Tigers in a foul-filled 79-65 victory at Colonial Life Arena.

“I wanted to get a win from a quality opponent. They just got into the top 25, which was great. It was another win in the top 25. At the end of the season, this is going to be a great win for us,” Staley said, brushing aside any question that there was something especially important to her in this matchup.

Outside of Staley’s pregame greeting with Mizzou coach Robin Pingeton drawing a few more cameras than usual and South Carolina and Missouri gathering around midcourt in a circle for the national anthem, the main reminder of last year’s controversy was in the officiating, as the referees whistled a combined 45 fouls, seemingly eager to nip any ugliness in the bud.

The stop-and-start pace didn’t shake USC, however, as it shot 17-for-20 from the free throw line and never trailed in the win.

“I told our players that I was proud that they made the adjustments. There was a lot of adjustments we had to make. We had to control the controllables,” Staley said.

The stoppages got to the point that former Gamecock great A’ja Wilson, who was sitting courtside, talked with a referee during a break about them.

“I was just talking to him, asking him just why is he making certain calls, because that is huge, it was kinda slowing up the game on some ends of the court,” Wilson said of her conversation.

When the game was actually being played, Missouri star Sophie Cunningham, who has been at the center of the the rivalry over the past few years, was booed every time she touched the ball by the 12,004 in attendance. She finished with a game-high 24 points, but most of those came in garbage time when the outcome was already certain.

The Gamecocks countered with a quartet of players in double figures — redshirt senior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore, redshirt senior forward Alexis Jennings, junior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and junior guard Tyasha Harris.

Herbert Harrigan and Cuevas-Moore were responsible for the firepower early, combining for 17 of the team’s 24 first-quarter points. Cuevas-Moore in particular shined with 11 points off perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the field, including three 3s.

“I’m feeling real good. I’m just going out there playing hard and trying to do my best every night,” Cuevas-Moore said.

Cuevas-Moore was also key to the Gamecocks’ high defensive pressure throughout the quarter, chipping in two steals. All told, USC held the Tigers to 35.7 percent shooting and six turnovers in the first quarter.

After nine fouls were called in the first 10 minutes, the game began to bog down in the second quarter as officials called several fouls off limited contact. Still, Mizzou’s offense seemed to find its footing somewhat, cutting the lead to seven points on several occasions.

But Jennings kept the Gamecocks’ margin from shrinking more, scoring eight points in the quarter to actually extend the lead to 44-30 at the break.

After halftime, junior guard Tyasha Harris, who started the game 0-for-6 from the field, exploded for 12 points, including two 3-pointers, and Jennings added six more points to extend the lead to 64-49.

“I was down a little bit and upset with myself,” Harris said of the slow start. “(My teammates) kept saying I’m gonna make my shots next half, and coach Staley said something to me too, so I had to keep shooting.”

The lone moment of real tension of the night came with 2:41 left in the third quarter, when Missouri’s Akira Levy and Carolina’s Lele Grissett were called for offsetting technical fouls after exchanging words and some contact after a play in the post.

Nothing more came of it though, and overall, Harris said the evening was actually less intense than she expected.

“I thought it was going to be higher tonight. It was actually lower. I thought the game was calm, the refs did a great job keeping it under control, and we did a good job keeping our composure,” Harris said.

Into the fourth quarter, South Carolina extended its lead to 24 points and cruised home.

Star of the game: After getting shut down in the first half, Tyasha Harris wound up tying for the team lead in points and adding five rebounds and five assists too. With her on the floor, USC outscored Missouri by 22 points, a team high.

“She was 0-for-6 at halftime, and I told her, ‘If you’re 0-for-6 at the end of this game, beep, beep, beep, beep. You fill in the blanks,” Staley said.

Stat of the game: Points off turnovers were a robust 23-12 in favor of the Gamecocks, who took the ball from Missouri 16 times.

“Those were key points in how we emphasized how we wanted to win the basketball game,” Staley said. “Just turning them over, we felt like our speed from one to five gave us an advantage, and how we utilized that was just keep pressing, showing different presses but staying aggressive.”

Play of the game: Late in the first quarter, Bianca Cuevas-Moore had a 20-second sequence in which she drained a 3, came up with a steal on the full-court press, saved the ball from going out of bounds by passing it in between her legs, then took a pass back and hit another 3.

Next: South Carolina has the rest of the week off and returns to the court on Monday to host Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network.

Box score

Schuchts 0-0 0-0 0, Aldridge 0-1 0-0 0, Cunningham 8-15 4-5 24, Roundtree 0-1 2-2 2, Smith 6-16 1-3 16, Porter 1-4 0-2 2, Tahane 2-3 0-0 4, Chavis 2-4 0-0 5, Levy 3-3 6-6 12, Troup 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 22-49 13-18 65.

Herbert Harrigan 6-13 4-5 16, Jennings 6-12 2-2 14, Cooper 2-5 3-3 7, Cuevas-Moore 5-7 0-0 14, Harris 4-12 6-6 16, Grissett 2-3 1-2 5, Jackson 0-2 0-0 0, Saxton 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Cliney 1-1 0-0 2, Henderson 2-4 0-0 4, Perry 0-2 1-2 1, Totals 28-62 17-20 79.

3-Point Goals: Missouri 8-21 (Aldridge 0-1, Cunningham 4-9, Smith 3-6, Chavis 1-3, Troup 0-2), South Carolina 6-14 (Herbert Harrigan 0-1, Cuevas-Moore 4-5, Harris 2-5, Jackson 0-1, Henderson 0-1, Perry 0-1). Assists: Missouri 10 (Cunningham 3), South Carolina 8 (Harris 5). Fouled Out: Missouri Levy, South Carolina Grissett. Rebounds: Missouri 29 (Roundtree 7), South Carolina 35 (Jennings 7). Total Fouls: Missouri 23, South Carolina 22. Technical Fouls: Missouri Levy 1,South Carolina Grissett 1. Attendance: 12,004.

This story was originally published January 21, 2019 at 9:13 PM.

Greg Hadley

The State

Covering University of South Carolina football, women’s basketball and baseball for GoGamecocks and The State, along with Columbia city council and other news.