No. 4 South Carolina WBB pummels Purdue, finishes 2-0 in Fort Myers Tip-Off
The No. 4 South Carolina women’s basketball team seemed to break Purdue less than three minutes into the second quarter of Saturday’s game at the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
From a blocked lay-up by USC’s defense, Gamecocks forward Chloe Kitts snagged the ball and sent it ahead. When point guard Raven Johnson took it to the rim moments later, multiple Boilermakers had eyes on her — but not on forward Sania Feagin. The Gamecocks veteran post player slipped in behind for the easy layup to give USC a 17-point lead. Purdue coach Katie Gearlds had to call a timeout.
Those first 13 minutes were much like the rest of Saturday’s game. South Carolina won 99-51, closing a 2-0 finish in Fort Myers and a successful trip to South Florida for the holiday.
At halftime, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley praised her team’s connectivity on defense, and that group was possibly even more suffocating than usual. After Purdue (4-3) scored its 10th point with 5:26 to go in the first quarter, South Carolina (7-1) allowed only eight points in the next 15-plus minutes, running out to a 53-18 lead.
That stacked a second consecutive blowout win of a power conference team after handling No. 15 Iowa State by 40 points. South Carolina’s next two games are against Duke and TCU, both teams ranked in the most recent Top 25.
Three things we learned:
Handling the turn(overs)
Like reaching for another serving of that Thanksgiving side, the Gamecocks just took and took when it came to the ball. By halftime, they’d forced 15 turnovers while only giving up three of their own. More than half of their first 33 points came off turnovers, which was more than Purdue had scored altogether at that point in the game.
Rim rulers
Part of the damage off turnovers came because the Gamecocks — led by Feagin, Ashlyn Watkins and Kitts and Joyce Edwards — were just mashing Purdue inside. In the first two quarters, when the game was not fully out of hand, South Carolina connected on 12 of 19 layups and pulled down half of their misses. Throw in four first-half blocks, with Purdue connecting on only one of its first nine layups, and it was just a commanding performance.
Bench bunch
South Carolina’s depth has usually been its strength, and that certainly popped in the early going Saturday.
Watkins was all over defensively, plus she put up eight points and seven boards, six offensive, in her first 12 minutes. Freshman point guard Maddy McDaniel was fearless attacking on the break. She had four assists and finished with a career-high 10 points on 5 of 5 shooting.
And ace scoring guard MiLaysia Fulwiley delivered perhaps the best early offense, putting up 10 points in her first 10 minutes. She finished with a team high 14 for the game.
Staley at halftime said most teams cant stop Fulwiley on straight line drives, and Purdue didn’t have much success against the sophomore.
Next four games
- Dec. 5: vs. Duke, 9 p.m. on ESPN (SEC-ACC Challenge)
- Dec. 8: at TCU, 7 p.m. (Hoopfest Women’s Basketball Classic)
- Dec. 15: vs. South Florida, 2 p.m. on SEC Network
- Dec. 19: vs. Charleston Southern, 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus
This story was originally published November 30, 2024 at 12:49 PM.