Gamecocks ride hot start to win over Alabama, advance to SEC tournament semis
Going into Friday’s SEC tournament quarterfinals, Dawn Staley wanted her team to “square up.” When the South Carolina women’s basketball team faced early opposition this season, the Gamecocks have needed time to adjust. Staley wanted her team to come out and throw the first punch.
USC did just that Friday evening against No. 7 seed Alabama, starting its quest for back-to-back SEC tournament titles strong and holding off the Crimson Tide for a 75-63 victory.
Staley’s squad scored the first 12 points of the contest at Bon Secours Wellness Arena and led 26-6 after the first quarter. That proved to be enough to hold off a pesky Alabama squad that managed to outscore the Gamecocks each of the final three quarters.
“We just held on to win the basketball game. At this point, I’d rather be on this side of not playing our best basketball than not,” Staley said. “We live to see another day, and it’s a dogfight out there winning in our league.”
The victory marks South Carolina’s third of the season over the Crimson Tide and 20th overall, marking the 10th consecutive season the Gamecocks have had at least 20 wins. They’ll face No. 3 seed Tennessee in Saturday’s semifinals.
3 OBSERVATIONS
1. Offensive identity
In addition to talking about getting out fast, Staley mentioned in the run-up to Friday’s game that South Carolina would be a more deliberate, focused offensive team. They were just that early against the Crimson Tide. Star sophomore forward Aliyah Boston started the game with two touches deep in the post, converting one for a three-point play to open the scoring.
“Our ball movement, we made a concerted effort. I don’t think there wasn’t a time in which we did not have a ball reversal. And if we didn’t have a ball reversal, then Aliyah Boston touched the ball on the block,” Staley said. “So we were deliberate in what we were trying to accomplish tonight — getting the ball inside, putting her in a position where she can score on the block and ball reversal.”
From there, the backcourt combo of junior Destanni Henderson and sophomore Zia Cooke were able to take advantage of the space and attention Boston drew inside to either drive inside or knock down jumpshots. That, combined with some easy looks in transition, had the trio combining to score 18 points in that quarter.
“It felt good,” Cooke said of the start. “We were smiling the whole time. It just feels good when you’re able to play like that and have good things going as a team. We’ve been making sure we’re locked in, listening to coach and paying attention to the details. And everything that we were doing in practice, we translated into the game.”
2. Defensive struggles
While the Gamecocks were able to hold Alabama star forward Jasmine Walker in check, limiting her to 4 of 12 shooting, they were hit hard by guard Jordan Lewis, who went off for 25 points and six rebounds. She and center Ariyah Copeland were crucial in the Crimson Tide sticking around and making life difficult for USC.
After taking a 27-point lead into the media timeout in the second quarter, South Carolina was outscored by 15 point the rest of the way. Staley said the issue from that point wasn’t a lack of focus or effort.
“Fouling was the thing that got us tonight, and hopefully we can clean that up,” Staley said. “But you’re looking at Alabama. They got seniors that do things extremely well, and if you take that one thing away, they go right into their secondary stuff and their delayed actions. And it’s really hard to stop all of them.”
Alabama attempted 15 free throws on the night, including 14 in the second half.
3. Big Three
South Carolina had three players in double figures — Boston, Cooke and Henderson. Cooke led the way with 22 points, while Henderson led the team with five assists to go with her 18 points, and Boston tallied 13 rebounds to go with her 16 points.
“If we can continue to move the ball as well as we moved the ball and we shoot as efficiently, especially with Henny and Zia and Aliyah — if those three are able to do that and we bring another player or two and get them close to double figures, that’s as even as we can be,” Staley said of her star players.
All three came up big late when Alabama started to surge and cut the lead to seven points. With 4:38 to play, Henderson drained her third 3-pointer of the game, Cooke sank an acrobatic layup off the glass, and Boston hit one final jumper with two minutes to go to settle it.
“It was definitely a momentum shift,” Cooke said of Henderson’s 3. “It was in flow. I knew she would be right there, ready for the shot, and we’ve been working on one more pass and it was there.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 7:56 PM.
