A mighty big road win: No. 1 Gamecocks handle No. 5 Huskies in Connecticut
No. 1 South Carolina snagged an impressive road victory in Sunday’s national championship rematch.
The Gamecocks (23-0) defeated No. 5 UConn 81-77 to earn the program’s first win in Connecticut over Geno Auriemma’s squad.
South Carolina has now won three straight in the series against UConn and four of the past five, including the 64-49 victory April 3 in last season’s national title game. Sunday’s win was also the 29th straight for the Gamecocks, tying a program record for consecutive victories.
“This is one of the things that we hadn’t been able to do, and I’m glad for them,” USC coach Dawn Staley said. “It’s completed when it comes to playing UConn.”
Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke were a combined 0-for-13 shooting in Sunday’s first half, but Boston came up big for the Gamecocks in the second half and finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds — including 23 in the second half and 14 in the final quarter. Aaliyah Edwards was the leading scorer (25 points) for the Huskies (21-3).
The game’s momentum shifted late when Auriemma was called for a technical foul for throwing a water bottle on the court to dispute a no-call. Boston made the two technical free throws, hit a midrange shot and knocked down a 3-pointer to put USC up double digits at the time.
The Gamecocks made 26 of their 36 free-throw attempts for the game, including 13 of 18 in the final quarter.
USC hits the road again to face Auburn on Thursday.
SECOND-QUARTER SURGE
USC lost its best perimeter defender — Brea Beal — early after she picked up two fouls. The Gamecocks trailed by 11 points after the first quarter.
South Carolina then outscored UConn 20-9 in second quarter, in part, by keeping in the same lineup: Kamilla Cardoso, Boston, Cooke, Raven Johnson and Laeticia Amihere.
That group outscored UConn by 11 points in the quarter, mostly due to the production of Cardoso. She scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting in that 10-minute stretch, coming through when Cooke and Boston didn’t have a field goal at the time.
“I just liked that group,” Staley said. “They play fast. They were able to play on the fly, they were able to execute what we needed to execute on both sides of the basketball and found ourselves back in the basketball game.”
Cardoso finished with 17 points before fouling out.
“She’s an intimidation factor,” Staley said. “And she needs to play that way all the time. If she doesn’t have the performance that she had to today, we lose the basketball game.”
ALIYAH BOSTON TAKES OVER
Boston poured in a dominant second-half performance on Sunday to help USC pull away late.
She scored 23 of her 26 points in the second half. She provided a range of shots for the Gamecocks, finishing inside, knocking down midrange jumpers and stepping out for a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
She went on a personal 9-3 run in the fourth quarter to extend South Carolina’s lead to 12.
Boston built on Cardoso’s production to have a stellar night of her own, as the 26 points she scored were a season high. She’s now up to eight consecutive games with a double-double.
”I’m kind of just in attack mode,” Boston said. ”I think the second half, I made more shots than I did the first half. But just stay confident with it, and just took good shots.”
POSTSEASON PUSH
The win will keep South Carolina as the nation’s No. 1 team and one of two undefeated teams.
USC entered the game as the top team in the NET rankings and now has four wins against ranked teams.
The Gamecocks still have one more game against a Top 25 team, when No. 3 LSU comes to Columbia on Feb. 12. USC also faces Tennessee — the third-place team in the SEC — on Feb. 23 in Knoxville.
South Carolina will look to pace itself as it gears up for the final month of the regular season.
“I’m just taking it one game at a time,” redshirt-freshman Raven Johnson said. “One practice at a time, just developing, just growing. Taking those practices, games, and development. Growing off that to get ready for March Madness and SEC play.”
NEXT FOUR SOUTH CAROLINA WBB GAMES
Thursday: at Auburn, 8 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Feb. 12: home vs. LSU, 2 p.m. (ESPN)
Feb. 16: home vs. Florida, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Feb. 19: at Ole Miss, 4 p.m. (SEC Network)
Box score
USC — Boston 8-16 9-11 26, Saxton 1-2 0-0 2, Beal 2-4 1-2 6, Cooke 2-15 4-6 8, Fletcher 1-2 0-0 2, Amihere 2-6 2-4 6, Cardoso 6-9 5-6 17, Johnson 4-12 5-7 14, Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 26-67 26-36 81
UConn — Edwards 10-14 5-7 25, Juhasz 2-9 1-2 5, Griffin 5-10 7-9 17, Lopez-Senechal 7-15 4-5 19, Muhl 4-6 2-2 11, Patterson 0-0 0-0 0, Bettencourt 0-0 0-0 0, DeBerry 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 28-54 19-25 77
Halftime — 34-34. 3-Point Goals—South Carolina 3-15 (Boston 1-3, Beal 1-2, Cooke 0-4, Johnson 1-5, Hall 0-1), UConn 2-6 (Juhasz 0-3, Lopez-Senechal 1-2, Muhl 1-1). Assists—South Carolina 11 (Johnson 7), UConn 7 (Muhl 4). Fouled Out—South Carolina Cardoso, UConn Lopez-Senechal, Muhl. Rebounds—South Carolina 42 (Boston 11, Cardoso 11), UConn 30 (Juhasz 7). Total Fouls—South Carolina 21, UConn 23. Technical Fouls—South Carolina Cardoso 1, UConn Team 1. A—15,564.
USC vs UConn basketball results history
- Dec. 17, 2007: UConn wins 97-39 (away)
- Dec. 28, 2008: UConn wins 77-48 (home)
- Feb. 9, 2015: UConn wins 87-62 (away)
- Feb. 8, 2016: UConn wins 66-54 (home)
- Feb. 13, 2017: UConn wins 66-55 (away)
- Feb. 1, 2018: UConn wins 83-58 (home)
- March 26, 2018: UConn wins 94-65 (neutral)
- Feb. 11, 2019: UConn wins 97-79 (away)
- Feb. 10, 2020: USC wins 70-52 (home)
- Feb. 8, 2021: UConn wins 63-59/OT (away)
- Nov. 22, 2021: USC wins 73-57 (neutral)
- April 3, 2022: USC wins 64-49 (neutral)
- Feb. 5, 2023: USC wins 81-77 (away)
This story was originally published February 5, 2023 at 2:23 PM.
