Undisputed SEC champs! No. 1 South Carolina beats Kentucky to secure conference crown
After a brief absence, the South Carolina women’s basketball team is back on top of the SEC, clinching the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament with a 67-58 win over Kentucky on Sunday.
The victory to secure the first-place finish was far less comfortable than the first time the No. 1 Gamecocks and No. 14 Wildcats faced off, when USC romped to a 27-point win. This time, UK rallied multiple times to keep some pressure on USC, but the Gamecocks held on, led by 20 points from freshman guard Zia Cooke.
Seven of Cooke’s points came in a furry toward the end of the third quarter, after Kentucky had steadily worked its way back to within single digits. She was the main scorer in a 10-3 run that pushed the lead back to 16 points.
“I didn’t even notice” the score, Cooke said. “I was just trying to go out there and make sure I was moving in the flow, getting my teammates involved, and if I felt like I had the opportunity to score, I’d do that as well.”
After that, the Gamecocks held the Wildcats to 17.6% shooting in the fourth quarter to secure their 21st consecutive win. It also marks their fifth SEC regular season title, which they earned outright as second-place Mississippi State was upset by Alabama just before the final buzzer on Carolina’s win.
Early on, coach Dawn Staley’s team looked like it might face an upset as well, turning the ball over on its first possession while the Wildcats raced to an early 9-5 lead.
But the Gamecocks quickly righted the ship by racing out in transition and pounding the ball inside. The turnover bug also hit UK with a vengeance, highlighted by seven giveaways in the final five minutes of the quarter.
“We knew that Kentucky would come out and play with a lot of energy to get into the game,” Staley said. “So we just tried to sustain and just make sure that we’re doing what we need to do to handle their run, handle their burst of energy that they had to start the game. It took us a couple of minutes to adjust. And once we started moving the ball, pushing the ball up the floor, getting the ball inside, getting the ball to the paint, that opened things up.”
Junior guard LeLe Grissett, filling in after freshman Brea Beal picked up two quick fouls guarding Kentucky star Rhyne Howard, had six points to fuel a 17-0 run.
Unlike the last team’s meeting, however, when the Gamecocks turned a massive first quarter edge into a full-fledged rout, Kentucky gathered itself at the break and cut down on the turnovers, while South Carolina had a couple careless giveaways and missed shots. That opened the door for a 9-0 Wildcat burst to trim USC’s lead to six points.
“We knew it was going to be different. It’s kinda hard to play a team twice — they know our tendencies and stuff like that,” senior guard Tyasha Harris said. “And obviously we played them at home and they got their crowd and home-court advantage. They just wanted to come back. I know they didn’t want to have the same outcome as the first game, so it was going to be tough.”
With just over two minutes before halftime, Kentucky junior forward Keke McKinney got an open look from 3 with a chance to make it a one-possession game. Her attempt rimmed out, however, and South Carolina raced out in transition for a quick layup, then scored once more before the break to put its lead back in double digits, at 40-30.
“I thought we had some chances at some critical points where we just couldn’t make a bucket,” Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said.
Out of the halftime break, South Carolina extended its lead to 14, as senior forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan added four quick points. The Wildcats responded by attacking inside, and Beal and freshman forward Aliyah Boston both picked up their third fouls as the physicality increased.
With them on the bench, Kentucky once again cut the lead down to nine points midway through the third quarter, before Cooke’s outburst gave Carolina some much-needed breathing room for the stretch run.
With the regular season title in hand, the Gamecocks have two more games to play before the SEC tournament, which starts March 4 in Greenville.
And one
South Carolina’s strengths all season have been its strength inside and in transition. On Sunday, the Gamecocks had a 38-14 advantage on points in the paint and 12-3 edge on fast-break points.
Personal foul
Boston picked up three fouls in a game for the first time since the Gamecocks played Mississippi State, and USC was whistled 22 total times, its most in 13 games.
Tip-in
In addition to securing South Carolina’s fifth regular season SEC title, the victory also marks the program’s 200th win in conference play and Dawn Staley’s 300th overall at South Carolina.
When do the Gamecocks play next?
Who: No. 1 South Carolina (27-1, 14-0 SEC) at Florida (14-12, 5-8 SEC)
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Where: Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Gainesville, Florida
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
Listen: 1320 AM/107.5 FM in Columbia area
USC Kentucky basketball box score
SOUTH CAROLINA (27-1)—Boston 2-8 2-4 6, Herbert Harrigan 3-9 4-4 10, Beal 1-1 2-3 4, Cooke 8-11 4-6 20, Harris 3-11 4-7 10, Amihere 0-1 0-0 0, Saxton 0-1 0-0 0, Grissett 5-7 0-0 10, Henderson 3-6 1-1 7, Team 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 25-55 17-25 67
KENTUCKY (20-6)—Anyagaligbo 2-3 1-3 5, McKinney 3-7 0-0 9, Haines 1-2 0-0 3, Howard 5-22 12-14 24, Roper 2-9 3-3 7, Wyatt 1-3 0-0 2, Cole 0-1 4-4 4, Green 0-0 0-0 0, Paschal 2-6 0-0 4, Patterson 0-1 0-0 0, Team 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 16-54 20-24 58
Halftime: South Carolina 40-30. 3-Point Goals—South Carolina 0-5 (Boston 0-1, Cooke 0-3, Harris 0-1), Kentucky 6-15 (McKinney 3-7, Haines 1-1, Howard 2-5, Roper 0-1, Patterson 0-1). Assists—South Carolina 9 (Harris 6), Kentucky 8 (Howard 3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—South Carolina 38 (Grissett 3-4), Kentucky 31 (Howard 6-11). Total Fouls—South Carolina 22, Kentucky 20. Technical Fouls—None. A—7,174.
This story was originally published February 23, 2020 at 4:06 PM.
