Block this way: Aliyah Boston’s triple-double powers No. 4 Gamecocks past Georgia
No. 4 South Carolina women’s basketball entered Thursday’s matchup with No. 22 Georgia on a historic offensive tear.
That came to an end against the Lady Bulldogs, as did the chance for the program’s first ever stretch of three consecutive 100-point games — but it didn’t matter, as the Gamecocks ground their way to a 62-50 victory.
“You know that offense wasn’t as fluid as we would like, and I thought Georgia had a lot to do with that,” coach Dawn Staley admitted. “I’m super proud of our defense. I am. I mean our defense is doing its job ... I thought we just were in all plays, got blocked shots, we were chasing them off the screens, we were in plays. We were scrappy. Those are things that did not take place maybe a month ago.”
And along the way, USC got another historic performance from sophomore forward Aliyah Boston, who put up the second triple-double of her career with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks. It was the first triple-double by a Gamecock in SEC play ever.
“I honestly had no idea,” Boston said. “And then coach sent me in (in the fourth quarter with nine blocks) and was like, ‘You need to go get a block.’ So I went in and of course I didn’t get a block, which bummed me out. ... And then afterward, they were like, ‘You still got it.’ And I was like, ‘Woah!’”
Boston reached the 10-block milestone after the scorekeeper reviewed earlier footage and credited her with a missed block from earlier in the game. And the Gamecocks needed all of that historic performance to help overcome the team’s worst offensive output in a win this year.
Two of Boston’s swats, as well as a steal, came within the game’s first few minutes, setting the tone for a contest that featured 43 combined turnovers, 23 from Georgia and 20 for Carolina. And even when the Bulldogs did get a shot off, South Carolina held them to just 33.8% from the field, matching a UGA squad that entered the game ranked in the top 10 nationally in defensive rating.
“South Carolina, in my mind, is the best team in the country,” Georgia coach Joni Taylor said. “And I thought their pressure in the first half caused us to turn the ball over. ... When you’re playing a team that that’s good, you can’t give them the ball.”
3 OBSERVATIONS
1. Slump busted?
Zia Cooke entered Thursday’s contest in a bit of a slump, having shot below 50% from the field and not reached double figures for three consecutive games. She broke out of that with her trademark aggressiveness, attacking the rim through traffic from the get-go. It didn’t translate to points right away — she was 0-for-3 to start the game — but she kept at it and was rewarded with 16 points to go with two assists and two steals.
“I’ve definitely had some deep conversations with coach, we’ve watched a lot of film, and I was just trying to figure out what I was doing that wasn’t right. I was trying to figure out what I was doing and what did I need to fix. So I just went out there with the same mentality that I’ve had since the start of the season, and things just started to fall in place this time,” Cooke said.
2. Offensive fouls aplenty
Many of the turnovers that occurred were a result of offensive fouls, which came fast and furious throughout the game, particularly in the first half. Neither team was spared either. The Gamecocks getting whistled 15 times, with a third or more coming on the offensive end, while Georgia was called for 20 fouls. No player for either team fouled out, though.
3. Cold shooting
South Carolina shot just 35.5% from the field, its worst performance of the season outside of a loss to N.C. State. Just one player, junior forward Aliyah Boston, shot above 50%, and the Gamecocks were just 2-for-11 from 3-point territory and 16-for-24 on free throws.
“I‘m very encouraged by our commitment to playing the style of disease that we need to play, just in case we had a shooting night like we had tonight, where you only put 60 points on the scoreboard,” Staley said. “You kind of expect that from playing that Georgia team. They make the game ugly. If you’re not able to handle their pressure, you won’t score a whole lot of points.”
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
Who: No. 4 South Carolina (11-1, 6-0 SEC) vs. LSU (6-6, 4-2 SEC)
When: 1 p.m. Sunday, January 24
Where: Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 8:17 PM.
