No. 3 South Carolina fends off scrappy Texas A&M for SEC win. What we learned
The South Carolina women’s basketball team was down two key players in an SEC road game Thursday but still came away with a win.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks picked up a 71-56 road victory over Texas A&M inside Reed Arena in College Station, Texas.
Joyce Edwards led South Carolina (22-2, 8-1 SEC) with a 28-point performance. Edwards finished with a double-double after bringing in 11 rebounds. Tessa Johnson scored 19 points.
“It was just the game coming to me,” Edwards told ESPN.
USC pulled out the win despite a shooting slump in the second half. The Gamecocks shot 56.5% in the first half and built up a 16-point lead in the third quarter before a run from Texas A&M cut the USC lead to 55-47 heading into the fourth quarter.
Texas A&M held South Carolina to a 33% clip from the field in the second half and cut the Gamecocks’ lead to as little as four points in the fourth quarter. An 8-0 run late helped South Carolina — it entered the game a 26-point favorite (according to BartTorvik.com) — get back in the driver’s seat and secure the 15-point win.
“Momentum is momentum,” Staley said. “The team that’s able to grab it at any given moment can win basketball games. They had it at the end of the third quarter, and we tried to figure out how to do that. I think we had more probably defensive momentum after we stopped fouling in the fourth quarter and then we were able to score.”
Short-handed Gamecocks tweak lineups
South Carolina was without two of its starters against Texas A&M.
Both Ta’Niya Latson and Ago Makeer, who both left South Carolina’s most recent game against Auburn with injuries, were out again on Thursday . USC’s pregame radio broadcast said both players were out with leg injuries and there was no timetable for their return. ESPN’s pregame broadcast was slightly more specific and said both players were dealing with lower-leg injuries.
Both Latson and Makeer have missed time this season. Latson missed the first three games of SEC play with an ankle sprain, and Makeer missed five games with a concussion.
Without Latson or Makeer, Staley and her staff again had to get creative with the starting lineup.
South Carolina used its sixth different starting lineup of the season against the Aggies. The Gamecocks started Maddy McDaniel, Raven Johnson, Tessa Johnson, Joyce Edwards and Adhel Tac. Thursday marked McDaniel’s first career start and Tac’s third.
“Ta’Niya and [Makeer] they bring something to the table that our other guards don’t bring,” Edwards said in an ESPN postgame interview. “We’re all unique. We’re all different. Obviously, it was a little bit of an adjustment, but I feel like we figured it out.”
McDaniel scored five points and logged three steals and three assists in 31 minutes. Tac played just six minutes and had one block.
Madina Okot took Tac’s place in the first five Gamecocks out on the court in the second half. At one point, South Carolina ran a three-forward lineup with Okot, Edwards and Alicia Tournebize who were alongside McDaniel and Ayla McDowell.
Game MVPs: Tessa Johnson and Joyce Edwards
USC needed someone to step up on offense with Latson, its second-leading scorer, out against A&M.
Johnson and Edwards answered the call.
Johnson scored 17 of her 19 points in the first half. She tied her career-high with five 3-pointers in the game, all of which came in the first half.
Edwards finished with a double-double and scored 14 of South Carolina’s 16 points in the fourth quarter to help put away the Aggies. Edwards also had four assists, a block and a steal.
“She’s one that can play-make,” Staley said of Edwards. “Down the stretch, we were just a lot more focused on getting the ball where it needed to be. And I think for a lot of the game, offensively, we just didn’t do a good job of just moving the ball in a way that really impacts the defense. So we just played according to how Texas A&M wanted us to play, so they did a great job just executing defensively.”
Even game in the post
The Gamecocks are at their best whenever they dominate in the post. That wasn’t really the case against Texas A&M.
South Carolina was able to create separation on the scoreboard early with its seven first-half 3-pointers. Once the Gamecocks went cold from beyond the 3-point line, it didn’t have its patented dominant post play to rely on.
Texas A&M and South Carolina were relatively even on the boards throughout the game. South Carolina ultimately won the rebound battle 36-29. South Carolina outscored Texas A&M in the paint 22-14.
South Carolina WBB’s next four games
- Thursday vs Mississippi State, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Sunday vs Tennessee, 3 p.m. (ABC)
- Feb. 14 at LSU, 8:30 p.m. (ABC)
- Feb. 19 at Alabama, 8:30 (SEC Network)
This story was originally published February 2, 2026 at 9:56 PM.
