South Carolina needed a hero the last trip to Baton Rouge. ‘Big Shot Breezy’ showed up
South Carolina facing off against LSU has turned into one of the better rivalries in women’s college basketball in recent years.
The two programs are among the best in the SEC and regularly go through each other for conference titles. Not to mention, both teams have been at the forefront of the national title conversation.
That much is true this season. No. 3 South Carolina (24-2, 10-1 SEC) and No. 6 LSU (22-3, 8-3) will face off in a nationally televised, primetime matchup on Saturday (8:30 p.m., ABC) for the latest installment of the rivalry.
South Carolina will travel to Baton Rouge this year, after hosting the Tigers in Colonial Life Arena a season ago. The growing rivalry between LSU and South Carolina has already seen its share of iconic moments, one of which happened last time the Gamecocks were in Baton Rouge.
Big Shot Breezy in action
In 2024, then-junior Bree Hall made her mark on the USC-LSU rivalry.
The Gamecocks entered the game ranked No. 1 and the lone team in the nation still undefeated with a 17-0 record. The Tigers — who had won the national title the prior season — were 18-2 and No. 9 in the country. LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center was nearly filled to the brim with 13,205 raucous fans hoping to will their team on to an upset win.
“Playing in Baton Rouge is something else,” Hall recalled to The State. “The crowd is crazy intense. I remember going out there to warm up and they’re counting me and the other guards’ misses and stuff like that. I was like ‘Whoa. Good lord.’”
South Carolina was down for the most of the game, at one time trailing by 11 points. But the Gamecocks fought back and gained control of the game late, thanks to Hall.
With 2:54 remaining on the clock the game was tied 67-67. Hall had shot just 2 for 8 from the field to that point, but her number was called in the clutch. Te-Hina Paopao came off a screen at the top of the key, drove left into the paint but dumped it off to Kamilla Cardoso at the elbow. The 6-foot-7 center then fired the ball across the court to a wide-open Bree Hall on the right wing.
Hall drilled the shot to give South Carolina a 70-67 lead.
A minute later, LSU tied the game at 70 with a 3-pointer of their own. How did South Carolina respond? With another wide-open 3 from Bree Hall that gave the Gamecocks a 73-70 lead with just over a minute left in the game.
“It was quite the experience,” Hall said. “Hitting that shot … that was huge.”
A bucket from Raven Johnson iced the game soon after and South Carolina walked off with a 76-70 win.
Hall wasn’t exactly known as a volume 3-point shooter during her time with the Gamecocks. Her average of 1.4 attempted 3s a game that season was a career-high mark. Hall was a career 36.9% shooter from long range and peaked at a 38.5% clip that season.
Her role in the win over LSU in 2024 was a big part of her earning her “Big Shot Breezy” nickname. Hall was showered with water bottles by her teammates in the locker room after the win.
ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco was calling the game and said Hall’s big shots were “symbolic of what we’ve seen at the core of South Carolina.”
“I just remember feeling like that building was alive and LSU had remarkable momentum, felt like they might pull off this comeback and Bree Hall hitting those 3s to thwart it,” Ruocco told The State. “They were huge shots. Obviously it was a huge moment in what ended up being a championship season.
“She delivered one of those poised, veteran moments that we have seen throughout South Carolina’s successful run. Even at times from players who maybe don’t have the most gaudy stats, right? They deliver in big moments.”
Hall finished with career-high marks across the board that season en route to her second national title with South Carolina. She scored 9.2 points per game and had a 54.2% true shooting percentage (an advanced stat that accounts for all field goals and free throws). Hall’s performance against LSU was like a catalyst for her performance the rest of the year, Paopao said.
“I felt like there was a different confidence to her,” Paopao said. “She grew a lot after that game. It was a really hard-fought battle against two really great teams, and she came up really big for us. I just remember that game being really physical and really fun, and I’m just happy that we came up with that dub.”
The growth of the rivalry
Hall and Paopao both had front-row seats to the growth of the rivalry between South Carolina and LSU. The Tigers lead the all-time series 22-21, but the Gamecocks have won the last 17 matchups, including a 66-56 win at home last season.
The rivalry really reached a crescendo in 2024 with the “Big Shot Breezy” game in Baton Rouge, but also the SEC Tournament championship a month later where a great game was muddied late by a fight between the two teams.
“I remember people lined up outside waiting to get in for hours and the atmosphere in the building, and what was a great game between South Carolina and LSU [in 2024], was just fantastic,” Roucco said. “Then you have their battle in the SEC tournament a couple of years ago with some of the extracurriculars.
“You have the fact that both of these teams have won national championships recently. You have the fact that both of these teams have coaches that are multi-time national championship winners and two of the more prominent figures in all of women’s basketball. I think all of that leads to it being just an amazing, spicy, fun rivalry.”
The South Carolina-LSU game is big for growing women’s college basketball, Paopao and Hall said. This year ESPN’s “College GameDay” show will be broadcast from Baton Rouge (just like it was in 2024) before the game is televised nationally on ABC.
“It makes the game so much more fun, and it’s exciting,” Hall said. “I love it. I love the rivalry games and I’m excited for this upcoming one.”
