No. 1 South Carolina follows up historic UConn win by thumping Auburn
If Auburn had any hopes of catching South Carolina still celebrating its landmark win over UConn from earlier this week, they quickly faded in a haze of Gamecock 3-pointers.
The No. 1 USC women’s basketball team drilled its first five shots, all from long range, to start Thursday and never trailed in a 79-53 victory. All told, coach Dawn Staley’s squad hit 10 from beyond the arc, its most in SEC play.
“It was great,” said freshman guard Brea Beal, who made one of those early 3s and two total. “When everybody’s hitting, it just keeps going down the line, so that was a good start to a game like that.”
The Gamecocks were also able to mitigate the effects of Auburn’s usual press defense, forcing misses and getting out in transition before the Tigers could set themselves.
It wasn’t completely perfect for South Carolina — that early burst of 3s was followed by five consecutive misses, and Auburn started both the second and third quarters on 6-0 runs.
“I’ll say it wasn’t really too crisp, but you know, we went out there, we did the best we could,” freshman guard Zia Cooke said of the team’s play. “We had a long week, so we just tried to recover from that, but we got the job done, so that’s really all that matters.”
That second quarter start in particular provided some of the only tension in the game, as the Tigers trimmed Carolina’s lead to three.
But the Gamecocks recovered with a 13-0 run, forcing seven consecutive empty possessions for Auburn by deploying a press of their own and getting a pair of 3s from freshman guard Zia Cooke as the second unit settled in.
Freshman starting forward Aliyah Boston returned to the floor at the tail end of that run and scored seven unanswered points all by herself to give USC a 42-23 halftime lead.
And senior guard Tyasha Harris came alive in the third quarter after Auburn’s quick start, scoring 10 points after having just two in the first half, leading a 68.8% shooting performance in the quarter that put the game completely out of reach.
Cooke and Boston led the Gamecocks with 13 points each, while Harris, senior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and junior guard LeLe Grissett all scored in double-figures as well.
“It’s tough to come back from an emotional game like (UConn) no matter how much we just say we try to block it out,” Staley said. “They felt it. ... We didn’t talk about it as a team. I just mentioned it to them afterwards, and they said it was an emotional high and, you know, although we play in the toughest league in the country, I mean it was hard to get back up for them, but they found a way.”
And one
The Gamecocks went 10-for-19 on 3-point attempts, for a season-high 52.6% rate. They’ve attempted 101 over the past five games, compared to 275 in the previous 20.
“I thought we did a great job just moving the ball and pushing the ball up the floor,” Staley said. “And, you know, we shot in rhythm, and when we do that, I mean I don’t care if we shoot 100 3s over two games. If they’re in rhythm and we’re knocking them down, go ahead and do it — it’s just going to open things up inside.”
Personal foul
Staley has noted at times this year the the Gamecocks tend to see their leads shrink late in games when the outcome is certain. That happened again Thursday, as Auburn outscored South Carolina 13-11 in the fourth quarter.
Tip-in
In her first game back with the Gamecocks since spending time with the Canadian national team, Laeticia Amihere had some rust to knock off. Playing 15 minutes, she scored four points on 1-of-5 shooting, had four rebounds and turned the ball over three times.
When do the Gamecocks play next?
Who: No. 1 South Carolina (24-1, 11-0 SEC) vs. Vanderbilt (13-10, 3-7 SEC)
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: SEC Network
Listen: 107.5 FM in Columbia area
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 8:43 PM.
