No. 3 South Carolina WBB cruises to SEC road win over Arkansas. A few takeaways
South Carolina women’s basketball earned another SEC win Thursday night.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks beat Arkansas 93-58 on the road in Bud Walton Arena. The victory helps South Carolina (16-1, 3-0) stay perfect to start conference play.
USC was led by a 22-point performance from Joyce Edwards . The star sophomore was one of four Gamecocks to finish with double-digit scoring.
Game MVPs: Joyce Edwards and Tessa Johnson
Edwards and Tessa Johnson both played well enough against Arkansas to earn game MVP honors.
Edwards finished with 22 points and seven rebounds, while Johnson finished with 19 points and six boards.
With Thursday’s performance, Edwards has now scored 20 or more points in 10 games this season. Johnson’s 19 points were almost a season high.
Johnson and Edwards combined for 41 points. Before Arkansas’ fourth-quarter run, there was a chance the duo would out-score the Razorbacks by themselves.
Staley credited both players’ recent success on the court to maturity.
“Tess has been in our program for three years now, and Joyce, this is her second year,” Staley said in her postgame press conference. “You learn to play good basketball, you learn to make good decisions. You learn what’s a good shot, what’s a bad shot, what’s a makeable shot, what’s not a makeable shot?
“And you play the percentages. For us, if you shoot over 50% you can take any kind of shot, because more times than not, you take really good shots that you can make.”
Offense all around for the Gamecocks
South Carolina’s offensive highlights didn’t stop at Edwards and Johnson.
Madina Okot and Raven Johnson both finished with double-digits in the scoring column. Okot finished with 15-point, 10-rebound double-double. Johnson scored 14 points.
The Gamecocks shot 51.8% as a team and made a near-season-high 53% of their 3-pointers. South Carolina dominated in the paint with 48 points to Arkansas’ 20 .
USC looked on pace to break the century mark on the scoreboard easily in the fourth-quarter, but the Gamecocks had a dry spell from the floor late. South Carolina was 1 for 12 from the field as a team in the final 7:49 of the game.
South Carolina defense keeps Arkansas under wraps
Arkansas hasn’t exactly been world-beaters this season, but they especially weren’t on Thursday night.
The Razorbacks shot 32.8% from the field as a team. South Carolina forced 23 turnovers in the game and scored 30 points off of them.
Arkansas came into the matchup averaging 45.18 rebounds per game (top 10 in the country), but the Gamecocks limited the Razorbacks to 34 on Thursday.
“I thought Arkansas did a good job at boxing out and giving us one shot,” Staley said. “But over the course of 40 minutes, we’ve got a big team, and the emphasis is always on dominating the boards.”
The Razorbacks were, however, able to remain relatively effective from 3-point range. Arkansas entered the game No. 5 in the SEC with 22.9 3-point attempts per game and No. 6 with 7.6 3-point makes per game. Against South Carolina, Arkansas was 8 for 19 from long range.
“I thought we were up for the challenge,” Staley said. “A little different style of offense where they just spread you out, drive it down your throat, see if they can get ahead of possession, kick out for 3s. I thought our players were really disciplined for the most part. You’re not going to totally shut a team out that does something so well like they do, but I thought for over the course of the game we were actually locked in.”
South Carolina WBB’s next four games
- Sunday vs Georgia, 2 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Jan. 15 vs No. 2 Texas, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
- Jan. 18 at Coppin State, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
- Jan. 22 at No. 5 Oklahoma, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 9:25 PM.
