What we learned as USC women’s basketball routs Benedict in exhibition
The South Carolina’s women’s basketball team gave its “fams” a sneak peek at its new-look squad Monday night in a 123-32 win over Benedict. The 91-point margin was the largest for a USC exhibition under Dawn Staley.
The Gamecocks never trailed at Colonial Life Arena in their first taste of live action since April’s national championship game.
Ten of the team’s 13 players saw action, with some new faces in the opening five. Sophomores Bree Hall and Sania Feagin joined seniors Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke and Brea Beal in the starting lineup. Neither Hall nor Feagin started a game last season.
Playing time was pretty evenly spread among those who played. No one played more than 25 minutes on Monday.
Cooke and Hall led the team in scoring with 19 points. Feagin chipped in a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
The team also unveiled its new theme — DNA — which stands for “Dreams, Nets, Assets.” The program began adding themes in the 2012-13 season.
The Gamecocks will open their regular season on Nov. 7 against East Tennessee State in Colonial Life Arena.
SCRATCHES FOR THE GAMECOCKS
Fifth-year senior forward Victaria Saxton did not dress out for the game Monday. She wore the team’s black, short-sleeve “DNA” hoodie during warm-ups and watched the game from the bench.
Saxton started all 37 games for South Carolina last season. No injury update was announced, and Staley described her veteran as “day-to-day.”
Kierra Fletcher and Raven Johnson both dressed and warmed up but did not play. Both are recovering from injuries sustained last season.
“We hope to have Raven and Kierra full-time shortly,” Staley said.
Fletcher suffered a foot injury in her last season with Georgia Tech, while Johnson had a season-ending knee injury last year that led to a redshirt year.
The rest of the team saw minutes during the first quarter.
POINT GUARD DUTIES
Staley in the preseason said that there is no “full-time point guard” for South Carolina, but the team experimented a bit in the first half Monday.
Cooke started the game with Hall in the backcourt and took on the ball-handling responsibilities, something she’s done since the first day of practice in the offseason. Laeticia Amihere served as the backup point guard and brought the ball up on occasion, even with Cooke in the game.
Freshman guard Talaysia Cooper occasionally brought the ball up, but mostly on fast breaks.
Fletcher and Johnson are the team’s most natural point guards, but the Gamecocks have capable ball handlers before they get healthy.
FIRST LOOK AT THE FRESHMEN
The team’s freshmen, Cooper and Ashlyn Watkins, got their share of minutes Monday.
Cooper wasn’t shy on offense, as the high school 3,000-point scorer took 14 shots. She finished the game with 11 points and often pushed the ball in transition. Cooper was also active on defense and ended up with six steals.
“We actually took her off the ball so she could concentrate on being who she is,” Staley said. “Explosive to the basket, passing the basketball, just running around a little bit.”
Watkins scored 11 points on eight shots and added nine rebounds to her stat line before fouling out. Watkins is known for her athletic abilities and showed flashes of that in the exhibition.
“We’re not going to limit her,” Staley said. “We want her to do it all. We want her to rebound and push. We want her to score, be aggressive. And slowly, it’s going to come.”
South Carolina’s rookies don’t have the game experience the other players have, but they could aid USC’s depth with its current injuries.
This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 8:59 PM.
