Joyce Edwards leads No. 3 South Carolina to another big SEC win. What we observed
South Carolina women’s basketball cruised to another easy SEC win Thursday.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks improved to 23-2 (9-1 SEC) with an 88-45 win over Mississippi State at home in Colonial Life Arena. South Carolina has now won four straight games.
The Gamecocks were led by a 21-point performance from Joyce Edwards. Madina Okot finished with a double-double. Ayla McDowell, Maddy McDaniel and Raven Johnson finished in double digits. Both McDowell and McDaniel tied their career highs for points.
Every Gamecock who touched the floor Thursday scored. USC shot 55.7% from the field as a team.
Joyce Edwards hits historic milestone
South Carolina star sophomore Joyce Edwards joined an elite club in Thursday’s win.
Edwards scored her 1,000th career point with a free throw in the third quarter. Edwards accomplished the feat in 64 games, which is the fifth fastest in program history. She did it faster than South Carolina legends A’ja Wilson (69 games) and Sheila Foster (68 games).
“You come to South Carolina to win,” Edwards said. “That’s all I try to do every game.”
The last Gamecock to hit the 1,000 career point mark was Kamilla Cardoso in 2024. With Edwards’ 21 points on Thursday, she now has 1,003 points in her career.
“She puts the ball in a hole and we’re not surprised at how quickly she got it,” Staley said.
Gamecocks play shorthanded again
Ta’Niya Latson and Agot Makeer were out with injuries for the second straight game.
Latson and Makeer have been absent since both left South Carolina’s Jan. 29 matchup with Auburn. Both are dealing with lower leg injuries, per ESPN’s broadcast of South Carolina’s game vs. Texas A&M on Monday.
As a result, Staley debuted the Gamecocks’ seventh different starting lineup of the season against the Bulldogs. Ayla McDowell and Madina Okot slid into the starting lineup, joining Raven Johnson, Tessa Johnson and Joyce Edwards.
McDowell tied a career high with 16 points in her first career start. Okot, who was a regular starter until Staley decided to bring her off the bench a few games ago, finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds against her former team.
“We gave (McDowell) the opportunity because they, they were just big on the perimeter, and we wanted to bring (McDaniel) off the bench,” Staley said. “I’m just happy to see her shot go down. She played the top of the two-three zone incredibly. So we know that when we ask, when we charge her with something, a task, she’s actually pretty good at just seeing it through.”
To make matters worse, USC didn’t have Tessa Johnson for most of the game. The junior played 15 minutes in the first half but didn’t play at all in the second half. Johnson was seen on South Carolina’s bench with what looked like a heating pad around her waist and lower back at the beginning of the third quarter.
After the game, Staley said Johnson was “banged up” so the coaching staff decided to let her rest with such a big lead.
Strong defensive showing from USC
South Carolina was able to shut down a talented Mississippi State offense Thursday night.
The Bulldogs came into the matchup averaging just under 80 points per game but scored a season-low 42 against the Gamecocks. Mississippi State shot just 27.6% from the floor. Mississippi State’s 16 field goals in the game were one of the lowest totals for the team this season.
“We had two good days of practice,” Staley said. “So anytime that we see where we have some shortcomings we work on them. We try to fix them. The zone is something that we have worked on, just in case we had to play a bigger lineup, and they played it extremely well. They were moving around. They were connected. So it was good to see.”
South Carolina looked much more dominant in the post against Mississippi State than it did last time out against Texas A&M.
The Gamecocks out-rebounded the Bulldogs 39-29. USC also dominated in the post on offense, outscoring Mississippi State 46-22 in the paint.
South Carolina forced Mississippi State to turn the ball over 19 times.
South Carolina WBB’s next four games
- Sunday vs. Tennessee, 3 p.m. (ABC)
- Feb. 14 at LSU, 8:30 p.m. (ABC)
- Feb. 19 at Alabama, 8:30 (SEC Network)
- Feb. 22 vs. Ole Miss, 12 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
This story was originally published February 5, 2026 at 8:22 PM.
