Gamecocks by 90: South Carolina women start SEC play with red-hot offense
Scroll down the list of the top women’s basketball scorers in the SEC, and you’ll make it pretty far before you find a player from South Carolina.
A dozen players from nine different teams all average more points per game than the 13.4 of the Gamecocks’ top scorer, freshman forward Aliyah Boston.
Individual totals aside, though, No. 4 USC is off to a historic offensive start in conference play. Through three games, Dawn Staley’s team has scored 90 or more points in every contest so far, matching the program record for 90-point games in an entire SEC season, back in 2002-03.
The last time Carolina put together 90 or more points in three consecutive games against any competition was in 2003-04, against Mercer, Florida A&M and Stetson. It’s happened four other times in program history.
Against Arkansas this past Thursday, USC needed poured in 91 points. On the road against Alabama, the Gamecocks had 93, and facing Kentucky, South Carolina had 99.
“It does give you a shot at winning basketball games, because a lot of offenses are a lot better than defenses that you could put out there. So I’m happy that we spread it around. We got four people in double figures (against Arkansas). We rebounded the heck out of the basketball,” Staley said.
In each of those three games, at least four players have scored in double figures, and who it’s been has varied too — seven different players have topped 10 points in that stretch.
At the same time, Staley noted that in each of those three games, South Carolina has given up 70 or more points, something that hasn’t happened since Staley’s first season in 2008-09. That’s despite the fact that the Gamecocks started off the season with a torrid stretch of defensive play.
“We’ve given up a lot of points. And people are closing the gap on us. We can be a little bit more stingy, little bit more locked in. ... If the officials are calling it tight, then we got to make that adjustment and look smooth doing that,” Staley said. “We’re going to give zone a try. Now that we’ve settled in and we know how we need to play our man-to-man aggressive defense, our zone will be a nice change of pace.”
On Sunday against Vanderbilt, the Gamecocks will have a chance to do something that’s never been done in the history of the program — score 90 points in four consecutive games. To do so, however, they’ll have to figure out a Commodore defense that ranks in the top 20 nationally in efficiency, according to Her Hoop Stats.
“They get after it. They got an athletic lineup. They pressure you. They play a lot of different defenses, but they like to press you. They’re playing really fast. I think they’re playing at a pace that (coach Stephanie White) likes. This is kind of the pace that she’s wanted for a couple years of now. She’s finally got the personnel and the commitment from her players to do it that way, and they look good. You see the results,” Staley said.
That fast pace could lead to more high scores; while Vanderbilt’s defense is efficient and holds opponents to 36% shooting, the Commodores’ speed means more possessions for both teams. As a result, VU ranks 59th in the nation in scoring defense.
Still, even that rank is far better than Vanderbilt has averaged over the past three years under White — the Commodores have never ranked higher than 290th in scoring defense in her tenure, and they’ve never won more than 14 games, a mark they’re already nearing halfway through the season.
WHEN DO THE GAMECOCKS PLAY NEXT?
Who: No. 4 South Carolina (15-1, 3-0 SEC) vs. Vanderbilt (12-4, 2-1 SEC)
When: 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tennessee
Watch: SEC Network
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
This story was originally published January 11, 2020 at 3:46 PM.
