South Carolina dominates Duke with suffocating defensive performance
For one quarter Thursday night, South Carolina women’s basketball vs. Duke looked like the chippy, back-and-forth rivalry of a five years ago.
Then the Gamecocks got going, the Blue Devils fell apart and the stark divide between the two programs became apparent as No. 5 USC rolled to an 89-46 win.
The defense for South Carolina (11-1) was lockdown, holding Duke to 30.9% shooting from the field and forcing 30 turnovers, while the offense remained balanced, with six players scoring in double figures.
“Coach tells us know our personnel, so I just had to make sure I knew my personnel, knew where I had to push certain players, and I just knew I had to pressure them,” said freshman guard Zia Cooke, one of five Gamecocks with multiple steals. “I feel like our team, our defense is really what people see about us.”
The Blue Devils’ star player, senior guard Haley Gorecki, entered the matchup averaging 18.7 points per game and took the opening tip straight to the basket for a layup. The rest of the way, however, she shot 1-for-12 from the field, turning the ball over nine times.
“I don’t think our team has ever defended like we defended tonight, as far as just taking space away,” USC coach Dawn Staley said. “You know, Gorecki’s an 18-point scorer. I mean, we did a great job with her. And once you cut the head off, the rest of it will fall, and I thought that’s what we did.”
Without her, Duke was able to keep pace in the early going, with seven lead changes in the first five minutes and only a 16-14 advantage for USC after one quarter.
Junior guard LeLe Grissett provided South Carolina with a spark off the bench to start the second quarter, recording five points, a rebound, a steal, a block and an assist in a 9-2 run.
From there, South Carolina was off to the races while Duke’s offense imploded, shooting 1-for-8 from the field and turning the ball over 10 times in the second quarter. Six different Gamecocks had steals in the first half and nine had points, led by senior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan with seven, to give Carolina a 37-19 lead.
After the halftime break, South Carolina kept pulling away. In a one-minute stretch midway through the third quarter, Harris and freshman guard Zia Cooke drained back-to-back 3-pointers, Duke turned it over twice and the Gamecocks got three offensive rebounds on one possession before Aliyah Boston finally got a layup.
“We generate a lot of offense from our defense, and it was great to be a part of,” Staley said. “I didn’t anticipate it would get out of hand like this but, I’d rather be on this side of it.”
That was part of an 18-4 burst that stretched the lead past 30, and from there it was only a question of which players could surpass 10 points — Cooke, Harris, Herbert-Harrigan, Grissett, freshman forward Aliyah Boston and freshman guard Brea Beal all did.
“Obviously a great game by South Carolina. Gotta give them credit,” Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We did some good things, good first quarter. Points off turnovers tell the whole story there. (We were) not being strong with the ball, but you have to give credit for that, you can’t just whine about it or complain about it. Credit goes ... they were very, very aggressive.”
And one: Before garbage time fully set in, Duke was turning the ball over on 42% of its possessions. USC had 39 points off turnovers.
Personal foul: Sophomore point guard Destanni Henderson, who has played well this year as the first option off the bench, had a rare off night, shooting 1-of-7 from the field and turning the ball over three times.
Tip-in: At halftime, teddy bears and stuffed animals rained down on the court as part of a “teddy bear toss” organized by Staley, with the toys being donated to organizations in both Columbia and Durham.
NEXT
Who: No. 5 South Carolina (11-1) vs. No. 25 South Dakota (11-1)
When: Noon Sunday
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: Streaming on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 8:51 PM.
