What we learned in No. 1 South Carolina’s dominant win over South Dakota
No. 1 South Carolina continued their reign of dominance through its non-conference slate with a 72-41 win over South Dakota on Friday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Here are three things we learned from South Carolina’s victory over the Coyotes.
Gamecocks start hot behind lock-down defense
South Carolina came out to an early 10-0 lead against South Dakota and never let up.
The Coyotes, which made it to last year’s NCAA tournament, were held to an 0-7 start from the field through the first five minutes. South Dakota went into halftime down to South Carolina by 15 points, shooting 9-29 from the field.
South Dakota guard Liv Korngable was the only South Dakota player scoring effectively in the first half, totaling 18 of South Dakota’s 24 points at halftime.
“I thought we did a really good job at making them second guess or making them play a little bit faster than they wanted to play,” head coach Dawn Staley said after the game. “If you sit back and allow them to be the fine-oiled machine that they are, they can make it a long night. I thought we just imposed our defensive will on them to build a pretty good lead.”
South Carolina didn’t let off the gas in the second half, expanding its lead off 46.7% shooting from the field compared to South Dakota’s 25%.
The Gamecocks have yet to trail at any point through their first two games against N.C. State and South Dakota.
“I’m pleased obviously,” Staley said. “We beat two quality basketball teams on the road, and two contrasting styles on purpose. ... We want to know what March and April feel like in November and December, and we’re challenging ourselves. Fortunately for us, we’ve won two really good games.”
Blocking out the Coyotes
South Carolina ranked second in the country last season with seven blocks per game. Adding Kamilla Cardoso, the ACC’s top blocker, has made the Gamecocks’ defense even more daunting.
After totaling nine blocks against N.C. State in the season opener, South Carolina added 10 more against South Dakota. Preseason AP All-American Aliyah Boston, who blocked five Wolfpack shots Tuesday, blocked four more Friday. Victaria Saxton added three, with Cardoso, Eniya Russell and Brea Beal totaling one each.
The Gamecocks out-rebounded every opponent in the 2020-21 season and dominated South Dakota on the glass. South Carolina totaled 49 rebounds to South Dakota’s 25. Beal and Cardoso both came up with eight rebounds against the Coyotes.
“I feel like our defense won this ball game,” South Carolina’s leading scorer Destanni Henderson said. “We’re playing really good defense until we started fouling, of course, but I just felt like again, we just got to be disciplined, and we just got to come to our habits. You just got to stay locked in and no matter what, just offensively and defensively, just attack, so that’s what we came out and did.”
South Carolina’s bench growing comfortable
Dawn Staley told reporters Thursday she dedicated practice time to helping the Gamecocks’ bench players gain comfort before facing South Dakota. South Carolina’s starters didn’t practice as much on Wednesday, Staley said, to allow time for its bench to be the “focal point” and grow confidence.
The focus paid off early.
South Carolina’s bench produced 10 of the Gamecocks’ 39 first-half points, and Bree Hall (3), Destiny Littleton (3), Laeticia Amihere (2) and Cardoso (2) all scored in the first 20 minutes. The Gamecocks ended with 28 points coming from the bench Friday, with Staley opting to sit all of her starters in the fourth quarter.
“We got some good, bad, some ugly production from the bench,” Staley said. “That’s just being quite honest. We have to be better. ... There really shouldn’t be a bad part. It should be either just very conservative or good.”
Freshman Raven Johnson entered the game midway through the first quarter but exited after playing 1 minute with an apparent leg injury. The school did not immediately disclose details on Johnson’s injury, but she returned to the sideline with a knee brace after halftime.
Next South Carolina women’s basketball game
Who: South Carolina Gamecocks (2-0) vs. Clemson Tigers (1-0)
Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
TV/Stream: SEC Network Plus
Box score: South Carolina 72, South Dakota 41
SOUTH CAROLINA (2-0)—Boston 4-8 1-1 9, Saxton 3-5 0-0 6, Beal 2-4 0-0 4, Cooke 3-9 3-3 10, Henderson 5-8 1-2 15, Amihere 1-4 2-2 4, Wesolek 0-1 0-0 0, Cardoso 4-6 1-3 9, Littleton 2-8 0-0 5, Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Feagin 2-2 0-0 4, Hall 2-3 0-0 6, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Russell 0-1 0-0 0, Team 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 28-60 8-11 72
SOUTH DAKOTA (0-2)—Sjerven 2-10 1-2 5, Korngable 8-15 8-11 24, Krull 0-4 0-2 0, Lamb 4-18 1-2 10, Watson 0-4 0-0 0, Peplowski 0-1 0-0 0, Sankey 0-1 0-0 0, Ugofsky 0-0 0-0 0, Guebert 0-0 0-0 0, Larkins 1-6 0-0 2, Mazurek 0-1 0-0 0, Team 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 15-60 10-17 41
Halftime—South Carolina 39-24. 3-Point Goals—South Carolina 8-20 (Boston 0-1, Cooke 1-4, Henderson 4-5, Wesolek 0-1, Littleton 1-6, Thompson 0-1, Hall 2-2), South Dakota 1-13 (Sjerven 0-2, Korngable 0-1, Lamb 1-6, Watson 0-2, Sankey 0-1, Larkins 0-1). Assists—South Carolina 18 (Henderson 5), South Dakota 3 (Lamb 1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—South Carolina 49 (Beal 5-8), South Dakota 25 (Team 3-5). Total Fouls—South Carolina 20, South Dakota 13. Technical Fouls—None. A—2,845.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 9:17 PM.
