No. 5 South Carolina wraps up another win vs. ranked opponent. SEC play is next
The South Carolina women’s basketball team spent the first half of Sunday’s game never quite able to run fully out of sight of the visitors from South Dakota.
But the No. 5 Gamecocks always had enough length and presence inside to stay ahead comfortably.
After getting outscored by eight during a stretch in the second quarter, Dawn Staley’s squad held the lead between 11 and 20 points in a 73-60 win against the No. 25 Coyotes at Colonial Life Arena to head into the holidays. It was USC’s third win against a ranked team this year.
“This team is locked in,” Staley said. “They’re going to play each second of the game. I think it just trickles down from Ty (Harris) to Kiki (Herbert Harrigan), and on down to our younger players, so I think this team is just super competitive.”
The second half saw both teams trade nice plays and sloppy mistakes as South Dakota (11-2) prevented the full blowout but never truly threatened. The teams combined for 38 turnovers, 22 by South Carolina (12-1).
Lele Grissett led the Gamecocks with 17 points. Nine Gamecocks scored five or more points. The Coyotes were a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament last year.
USC weathered 20 points from star South Dakota guard Ciara Duffy, who came in shooting 54 percent from 3-point range. She was held to 1-5 shooting from beyond the arc.
“They’re obviously really good defensive team,” Duffy said. “Really athletic, really long. And I think we kind of did expect that coming in. But all credit to their defense for taking away a lot of things that that we usually do well.”
Staley said Duffy started as a nominal “big,” but USC put a bigger guard in Brea Beal and a big wing in Grissett on her, and both made her work.
Overall, the Coyotes shot 3-17 from 3, but they did get some looks inside with USC keying on the perimeter. USC also did much of its damage hammering the offensive glass, grabbing 21 of their own misses to 18 South Dakota recovered.
It was the Gamecocks’ final nonconference game and final contest of 2019. The team gets a week and a half break before Kentucky on Jan. 2.
The players all get the chance to go home, see family, and maybe tinker with their games during the time off.
“It’s a long break, but we’re going to focus,” Harris said. “We’re going to have the mindset of basketball and make sure we don’t leave that completely and come back ready to prepare for SEC play.”
An old hand at this, Staley knows how to prepare for players’ return from such a layoff.
“We will have the trash cans out for our practices when they return,” Staley said. “It never fails.”
And one
Gamecocks point guard Ty Harris delivered the play of the day with a 71-foot heave to beat the buzzer in the first quarter. USC actually beat or almost beat the buzzer in each of the first three quarters.
Personal foul
Although USC was up throughout, the Gamecocks seemed to always give up a play or two in moments when they could really run away with it. Sometimes it was an open jumper or an offensive foul, or just an ill-timed turnover.
Tip-in
Dawn Staley and her staff came out looking festive with not one, not two, but three Christmas sweaters with flashing lights. Assistant Lisa Boyer even broke out her elf shoes for the occasion.
NEXT
What: South Carolina vs. Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Jan. 2
Where: Colonial Life Arena
TV: SEC Network
Radio: 107.5 The Game in Columbia area
This story was originally published December 22, 2019 at 1:54 PM.
