Joyce Edwards drops 28 points, South Carolina hammers Florida for SEC win
South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao had a prediction for the Gamecocks’ future opponents in the moments that followed Sunday’s loss to Texas.
“It’s going to be scary for the next few teams,” Paopao said.
On Thursday night, things got scary in Colonial Life Arena. For Florida, at least.
The No. 4 Gamecocks bounced back from their most recent loss with a 101-63 win over the Gators. South Carolina (23-2, 11-1 SEC) led from wire-to-wire in the shellacking of Florida (12-13, 3-8 SEC), a return to form for a Gamecocks team that trailed for the entire game last time out.
Gamecocks punch first
South Carolina put on a show in the first quarter of Thursday’s matchup. The Gamecocks scored 36 points in the first quarter, marking a new season-high for points scored in a quarter.
The 36 points were a point shy of the program record for most points scored in a first quarter.
South Carolina shot 60.9% as a team in the first quarter on 14 for 23 shooting. The Gamecocks also shot 66.7% from 3-point range after hitting four of their six attempts.
Paopao led South Carolina with 11 points in the first quarter. She was 4 for 4 from the field, including three 3-pointers in the period.
The Gamecocks’ defense was just as impressive in the first quarter, holding Florida to 15 points on 38.5% shooting. South Carolina also forced eight turnovers in the opening frame.
South Carolina led Florida 62-32 at halftime, tying the most points the Gamecocks have scored in the first half of an SEC game in program history.
Career night for Joyce Edwards (again)
Staley’s latest freshman phenom put up another strong performance.
Edwards finished with a career-high 28 points on 10 for 17 shooting. She also recorded five rebounds.
She scored 18 of those points in the first half alone. She passed her old career-high of 21 points halfway through the third quarter after just 14 minutes of play. Edwards became the first South Carolina freshman to score 28 points in an SEC game. The last time a Gamecock freshman scored at least 28 in a game was in 2009.
Her 28 points also were the most any Gamecock has scored in a game this season.
Edwards’ career-high comes after she scored nine points against Texas and didn’t see the floor in the fourth quarter against the Longhorns.
“Obviously, Texas was a little rough, but you watch film and you learn from it,” Edwards said. “In every situation you learn. I feel like that’s what I did today. Just coming out and executing, learning from what I did from Texas. I’m just slowing down a little bit, but that was really it. I feel like that loss kind of opened my eyes to what I needed to do more: just learning and executing.”
Strong performance from Paopao
Paopao helped South Carolina establish its pace early in the game with her prolific 3-point shooting.
The bulk of her production game in the first half of the game, simply because South Carolina led by so much in the second half that she didn’t need to do much. Paopao played seven of her 20 minutes in the second half and didn’t touch the floor in the fourth quarter. Staley said Paopao’s ability “elevates” South Carolina.
“When Pao hits a three, it seems to kind of allow all of us to exhale, because she’s been that potent for us from an offensive standpoint,” Staley said. “We almost, in the Texas game, were just kind of willing her shots to go in, because we know what that means. She’s a playmaker. She’s one that we want the ball in her hands.
“We want her coming off screens, we want her play-making for us, along with putting the ball in the hole. Especially outside of three, but just also facilitating. Pao just took more of an effort to play-make today, and we need that.”
Paopao flirted with a triple-double in the game. She finished with 14 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. All but one of those rebounds and one of those assists came in the first half of the game.
South Carolina schedule: Next four games
- Sunday: vs. UConn, 1 p.m. (ABC)
- Feb. 20: vs. Arkansas, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Feb. 23: at Vanderbilt, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Feb. 27: at Ole Miss, 9 p.m. (ESPN or SEC Network)
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM.
