Gamecock women surge past Vanderbilt with big second half
Dawn Staley didn’t like the long stretch in between games for South Carolina women’s basketball. It gave her players time to lose some of their sharpness, she said.
On Monday night at Colonial Life Arena, Gamecock fans saw some of that sloppiness early, but USC recovered with more than enough time to take an 80-69 win over SEC cellar-dweller Vanderbilt.
From the get-go, it appeared that USC (14-5, 6-1 SEC) would cruise to another easy home SEC win like it did over Florida two weeks ago. Staley’s team made its first five field goal attempts and forced five Vandy turnovers in the first quarter, racing to an early 15-5 lead.
Things changed in the second quarter, however. After making their first field goal attempt of the period, the Gamecocks went nearly six minutes without scoring in the second quarter, missing 11 consecutive shots. In that time, Vanderbilt went on a 12-0 run, powered by junior guard Cierra Walker, who drained back-to-back 3s. At one point, the Commodores (5-14, 1-6 SEC) led by six points.
“I thought we were trying to be aggressive. There was probably a little bit too much one-on-one play ... We knew Vandy was a team that wasn’t going to go away. I think it was us, our second quarter shot us in the foot,” Staley said.
As they have at several times this season, the Gamecocks’ struggles seemed tied to their inability to break an opponent’s defense. On multiple occasions, redshirt junior guard Te’a Cooper aggressively drove the lane, only to miss through contact near the basket — she was 1-for-7 from the field in the quarter.
“I was getting there, I just wasn’t finishing, so (Staley) was just telling me to keep attacking, keep my eyes on the basket and they’re going to start falling. Don’t expect the fouls and just keep pushing,” Cooper said.
Rebounding also frustrated Carolina in the quarter, as Vanderbilt, who entered the game with an average rebounding margin of 1.0 on the year, was winning the battle on the boards decisively at the break, 20-14.
“We had more unpredicted shots, so it left us with no rebounders,” Staley said of the team’s struggles. “ ... We just have to rebound a little bit better. I thought we closed the gap and beat them on the boards at the end of the game.”
Junior guard Tyasha Harris eventually broke the scoring drought with a 3-pointer with 3:49 left in the quarter, and the Gamecocks closed the gap to within two points at the half off a last-minute layup from freshman guard Destanni Henderson on a fast break.
After halftime, senior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore added another fast-break layup to tie the game and spark an 11-4 run that ended when Harris came up with a rebound under the basket and went the length of the floor, laying in a difficult basket while being fouled with 4:13 to play in the quarter.
After that basket, Vanderbilt got within five points once more and never recovered. The Commodores’ post play, led by Mariella Fasoula, was able to find some success down low throughout the night, but Staley’s squad regained its shooting touch, making 57.6 percent of its shots from the field in the second half and pulling away down the stretch.
“It was hard for us to guard (Fasoula) down in there, so I thought overall our depth at the post position was what really gave us an edge when it comes to dominating the post,” Staley said.
Freshman forward Victaria Saxton was key to that depth. In a game where USC’s starters accounted for 71 of the team’s 80 points, Saxton grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in just 13 minutes off the bench and frustrated Vandy in the post throughout the fourth quarter.
“I called her number in the second half because I thought she did the best with (Fasoula),” Staley said. “She used her athleticism, she freed up her feet to be in the play. She got some deflections, she got some blocked shots. She was real active on the defensive side of the ball.”
With 4:13 left to play and the Gamecocks on the fast break once again, Saxton managed to save a ball as she fell out of bounds and find Cuevas-Moore for an open 3 that made the score 78-61 to effectively end the game.
Star of the game: Te’a Cooper led all scorers with 18 points, tallied a pair of rebounds and assists each and nabbed three steals for one of her best performances of the year at home.
“I couldn’t get it going in CLA for a minute. So I just tried to really do what I do in away games and it worked for me,” Cooper said. “I had a lot of conversations with the staff about it, so I felt good about today.”
Stat of the game: Fast-break points were 23-5 in favor of South Carolina, who thrived whenever it sped up the pace of play and stagnated when Vanderbilt was able to settle into its defense.
Play of the game: With 7:36 left in the first quarter, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan took advantage of the Gamecocks’ fullcourt press and a sloppy pass by Vanderbilt to grab an easy steal. On the ensuing fastbreak, she crossed over Vanderbilt’s Brinae Alexander, causing her to fall to the floor, then calmly stepped back and drained a midrange jumper.
“I knew she had fell, so it was open, so I shot it,” Herbert Harrigan said. “ ... I’m very confident in my jumpshot.”
NEXT
South Carolina travels to Kentucky to face the No. 19 Wildcats on Thursday. The game will be televised on the SEC Network, with tipoff at 6:30 p.m.
This story was originally published January 28, 2019 at 8:47 PM.
