‘It’s going to be scary’: Gamecocks won by 62, see plenty of room for improvement
The final score was about as lopsided as you could want, 103-41. The opposing coach freely admitted that her team had had its collective rear end kicked.
But in the world of South Carolina women’s basketball, Thursday’s rout of Temple wasn’t quite perfect.
“I think that we did struggle a little bit in the beginning,” sophomore forward Laeticia Amihere said. “We got our rhythm, but I would hope that later on that we’re going to be able to get that rhythm quicker just so we can get away from our opponents earlier. Especially when we’re going to have more top-10 matchups, it’s going to be important for us to attack the first quarter a lot stronger, so that’s definitely something we’re working on and then it starts at practice.”
With just over two minutes left in the first quarter Thursday, the Gamecocks and Owls were tied at 14. Temple was scrapping, outrebounding the bigger South Carolina squad and frustrating its post players.
Then, the Gamecocks pulled off a 7-0 run to end the quarter, followed by a 13-4 run to start the second quarter. From there, the outcome was never in doubt as coach Dawn Staley’s team romped its way to a 62-point win that Temple coach Tonya Cordoza called “not something that I’m proud of.”
But the massive margin of victory and USC’s 5-1 record don’t change the fact that this is a South Carolina team still finding itself, full of young players trying to adjust to new dynamics now that last year’s senior starters, guard Tyasha Harris and forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, are gone. And the way sophomore guard Zia Cooke sees it, if this is what the Gamecocks can do while still adjusting, then the future is exciting.
“I definitely think we’re figuring it out, and that’s all we’re going to continue to do, is keep figuring it out,” Cooke said. “We only lost two people, but it’s a totally different team now, so we got to get the flow with each other, learn how each other wants the ball and learn how to play together. And once we reach our peak, it’s going to be scary.”
The peak Cooke envisions doesn’t have the minor hiccups USC experienced against Temple. But for coach Dawn Staley, even if her players were a little “lethargic” early, she’s pleased with where their minds were as they wrapped up the main portion of their nonconference schedule and now prepare to begin SEC play.
“I wasn’t too concerned about it, because they’re thinking. and I want them to think, because now that they’re thinking, hopefully some of this stuff will become habit and they’ll do less thinking and more just read and reacting,” Staley said.
Cooke is a prime example of that thinking — a talented, explosive player with a flair to her game, she can sometimes do too much and force bad shots. Against Temple, though, she was a crisp 8 for 11 from the field and 5 of 7 on 3-pointers to total 23 points. That, coming after a 6-of-12 shooting performance in the team’s last game against Iowa State, marked a milestone of sorts.
“I’m proud of Zia. Zia hasn’t had consecutive games shooting over 50% last year, this year and, she said, high school,” Staley said. “So it’s great to see the evolution of a player. And I don’t know how long this will last. But I think she’s seeing that if she just leads her game out, just lead it out a little bit, she’s going to get great shots. Great shots. And that’s what she’s doing, she’s not forcing the issue.”
Questions of shot selection, passing and defending are ones Staley welcomes. She doesn’t want to crush her players’ confidence, she said, but she does want them to question and push their own games.
“I mean, we’re a work in progress when it comes to that, you know? They’re thinking, they’re asking questions, like ‘Was that a bad shot?’ And I want them to ask that, because I want them to lean their games out,” Staley said.
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
Who: No. 5 South Carolina (5-1) vs. Ole Miss (5-0)
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 31
Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina
TV: SEC Network
