Boston, Beal power USC to 104 points, past Arkansas in top-15 SEC showdown
When it comes to SEC play, South Carolina women’s basketball star Aliyah Boston can mark it down — whenever Arkansas is on the schedule, you can bet on a double-double.
And sure enough, when the No. 4 Gamecocks faced the No. 15 Razorbacks at Colonial Life Arena on Monday, the fourth meeting between the two programs since Boston came to Columbia, she once again reached double digits in points and rebounds while leading USC to victory, this time by a 104-82 margin.
“They’re just a great team. So I don’t mind playing them, and yeah, I’ve had a couple double-doubles on them, but it’s just fun another game,” Boston said with a smile after Monday’s victory.
With 26 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks, the 6-foot-5 Boston was simply overwhelming against Arkansas’ smaller, four-guard lineup. But it wasn’t just her size that allowed her to dominate.
“She’s incredibly skilled, she’s incredibly smart, she moves without the ball, she seals you when the ball’s in the air,” Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said. “You know, she’s just somebody I think a lot of. We need more true low post lawyers in the country. I would love for there to be more to go around like that. ... People need to study her.”
The Razorbacks were able to keep in it for the first half, relying on star guard Chelsea Dungee to provide much of the offense and helped out by a five-minute stretch in the second quarter when the Gamecocks went without a field goal.
But even with a chippy, physical style inside to try to combat their size disadvantage, Arkansas wore down against Boston and South Carolina’s bigs. Junior forward Victaria Saxton added 10 points and four rebounds, while sophomore forward Laeticia Amihere had six points and three blocks.
“We knew where our bread and butter would be,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. “I thought (Victaria) would have a good night, I thought Aliyah would have a good night, I thought LA would have a good night. ... So it was about us just controlling the paint. But if you look at the games that we’ve played, Aliyah had big nights the three games that we played them last year.”
Into the third quarter, South Carolina withstood a surge from Dungee and the Razorbacks to get within one possession, and then Boston went back to work, powering a 7-0 run with five points of her own to put the Gamecocks up double digits. In the fourth quarter, USC surged ahead with a 14-3 run to put the game completely out of reach.
3 OBSERVATIONS
1. Swat party
Early on, Arkansas’ guards would get a step on South Carolina’s defenders and drive the paint for layups — only to find Boston waiting. She had five blocks in the first quarter alone, completely shutting down the lane. Eventually, the Razorbacks avoided the inside entirely when Boston was on the floor, settling for jump shots. That led to a 60-34 advantage for South Carolina on points in the paint.
2. No make, no problem
South Carolina’s size advantage allowed the Gamecocks to dominate on the offensive side as well. In the first half, they had an offensive rebounding rate of 58.3%, meaning they rebounded more of their own misses than Arkansas did. For the game, USC had 18 offensive boards to 20 defensive ones for Arkansas.
3. Beal booming
Sophomore guard Brea Beal has quietly put together a couple strong performances in a row, and she kept that going Monday with a career-high 22 points. She also came through with some clutch defense to slow Dungee down after an explosive first quarter.
“With me, I was in my own head, it was more of a mental thing,” Beal said of how she’s emerged offensively as of late. “And I think for myself, like it’s easy to score when you’re doing defensive things, little things — rebounding, put-backs. You don’t got to score off one-on-ones and moves and stuff. You just get it as easy as you can.”
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
Who: No. 4 South Carolina (10-1, 5-0 SEC) vs. No. 22 Georgia (12-1, 4-1 SEC)
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published January 18, 2021 at 8:54 PM.
