Back at home, balanced Gamecock attack leads USC past Purdue
South Carolina women’s basketball is home for the holidays, and things are off to a cheery start for Dawn Staley’s squad.
Coming off a five-game road stretch and a tougher-than-expected contest last weekend, the No. 5 Gamecocks never trailed Sunday in an 85-49 blowout win against Purdue at Colonial Life Arena.
After Temple gave USC (10-1) some trouble in Philadelphia last Sunday, Carolina had six players score in double figures and held the Boilermakers to just 30% shooting, a far cry from last year’s matchup between the two teams that went to double overtime.
“It feels like the most complete game” of the season, Staley said. “I felt like we we executed the game plan, which was to speed them up, or on make baskets we pressed them. I just thought we were locked in defensively. I don’t think we executed what we wanted on ball screen defense, but we made up for it with our energy and our effort. I like the fact that we had six people in double figures. That’s always going to help us down the stretch.”
The Gamecocks rushed out to a quick 7-2 lead, led by a pair of pull-up jumpers in transition from senior guard Tyasha Harris, while Purdue, usually a methodical, deliberate team on offense, looked flustered.
“Because they’re so athletic and so big and so quick, we played back on our heels on offense rather than moving forward on offense, and we did the same thing defensively,” Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said. “They had a great first quarter and we didn’t really recover. They dominated in every area.”
Over the quarter’s middle portion, the Boilermakers recovered a little to keep pace. But with 3:45 left in the period, the Gamecock offense roared to a 9-0 run, with senior foward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan adding four points and stuffing a 3-point attempt from Purdue’s Kayana Traylor to spark a 3-on-none break and force a Boilermaker timeout.
That stoppage did little to blunt USC’s momentum, however. The Gamecocks shot 63.2% from the field in the first quarter and extended their lead to 26-13 just before the break by shutting down Purdue’s final possession and getting a fast-break, buzzer-beating layup from junior guard LeLe Grissett.
“I think we have a team in which, you know, a lot of people can score if you put them in the right situations,” Staley said. “I though tonight we just we gave LeLe the ball at times and she drove ... we posted her up. So these are things that we’ve been working on that, hopefully we can steal some buckets throughout some games as we progress through the season.”
That momentum carried over into the second quarter, as South Carolina continued to shoot well and Purdue missed 11 of its first 13 attempts. The Gamecocks pulled away with a 15-5 run to establish a 25-point lead, but a little sloppiness just before halftime allowed Purdue to cut the deficit below 20.
Coming out of halftime, the Boilermakers narrowed the deficit to 16 in the first few minutes, but freshman Zia Cooke drained a jumper, came away with the steal off the in-bounds and got the layup to put the advantage back at 20. That kicked off an 11-5 run, highlighted by another steal in Purdue’s backcourt that led to Harris finishing through contact, bringing the crowd at Colonial Life Arena to its feet.
“Just saying focused, staying the course,” Harris said of how the Gamecocks recovered from that Purdue push. “I mean, basketball’s a game of runs so you know they’re going to have a run and we could potentially have a run back, and that’s what happened.”
Cooke added another highlight-reel layup on the break with 1:46 left in the quarter, part of a 7-0 run to push the lead to 26 heading into the final 10 minutes and put the game solidly away.
And one
Led by Harris, Herbert-Harrigan and Henderson, South Carolina’s non-freshman players accounted for 30 of the team’s 43 first-half points and 52 of 85 points.
Personal foul
Star freshman forward Aliyah Boston didn’t score until halfway through the second quarter and was mostly quiet on the afternoon, only reaching 10 points midway through the fourth when the outcome was already certain.
Tip-in
Sophomore forward Elysa Wesolek missed the game due to a university rule mandating she not play until all of her final exams are finished, according to a tweet from the team’s official account.
NEXT
Who: No. 5 South Carolina vs. Duke
When: 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 19
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: SEC Network
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
Box score
PURDUE (7-3) Harris 3-13 4-6 10, Diagne 0-1 0-0 0, Farquhar 0-4 0-0 0, McLaughlin 7-14 0-0 18, Oden 5-11 0-0 11, Grant 0-2 2-2 2, Woltman 0-2 0-0 0, Hardin 0-1 0-0 0, Traylor 1-4 0-0 3, Whilby 1-5 3-4 5, Makolo 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 17-59 9-12 49.
SOUTH CAROLINA (10-1) Boston 5-9 0-0 10, Herbert Harrigan 6-9 0-0 12, Beal 1-6 3-3 5, Cooke 7-16 0-0 14, Harris 6-8 1-1 14, Amihere 0-3 1-2 1, Saxton 0-4 0-0 0, Grissett 5-8 1-3 11, Henderson 6-11 3-6 15, Thompson 1-2 0-0 3, Totals 37-76 9-15 85.
Halftime:—USC 43, Purdue 25. 3-Point Goals—Purdue 6-18 (McLaughlin 4-7, Oden 1-4, Grant 0-2, Hardin 0-1, Traylor 1-2, Whilby 0-2), South Carolina 2-8 (Beal 0-1, Cooke 0-2, Harris 1-2, Henderson 0-1, Thompson 1-2). Assists—Purdue 7 (Traylor 3), South Carolina 18 (Harris 5). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Purdue 28 (Harris 7), South Carolina 56 (Amihere 9). Total Fouls—Purdue 16, South Carolina 12. Technical Fouls—None.A—11,306.
This story was originally published December 15, 2019 at 3:55 PM.
