No. 3 South Carolina battles past Bama. Gamecocks now a win away from SEC title
South Carolina women’s basketball added a seventh ranked win to its resume on the road Thursday.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks (26-2, 12-1 SEC) beat Alabama 76-57 in Coleman Coliseum. The win is South Carolina’s seventh in a row and third straight over a ranked opponent.
With the victory, South Carolina needs to win just one of its remaining three games to clinch at least a share of the SEC regular season title.
A game of runs
Staley has spoken at length about how, historically speaking, her teams have had trouble creating separation on the scoreboard with Alabama despite 24 straight wins over the Crimson Tide. That much was the case Thursday night.
“They were a hard guard in January, they were a hard guard today,” Staley said of Alabama. “They run their sets with efficiency. I thought they turned the ball over a little bit more than they usually do. ... They’ve got players one through five, and they got a little bit of depth coming off the bench that gives them a shot at winning every time they step on the floor.”
South Carolina started the game on a 15-5 run and eventually outscored Alabama 21-8 in the first quarter. The Crimson Tide responded with a run of their own and cut the lead to four points after an 11-2 run to start the second quarter.
How did the Gamecocks respond? A 9-0 run to extend the lead to 32-19 (13 points). Another run from Alabama cut South Carolina’s lead to seven points (34-27). An 8-0 run from the Gamecocks made it a 42-27 score and suddenly USC had its largest lead of the game to that point.
Alabama outscored South Carolina 24-21 in the second quarter, though the Gamecocks led 42-32 at halftime. The Gamecocks shot 48.6% in the first half compared with the Crimson Tide’s 41.4%.
The trend continued in the third quarter when Alabama ended the period on an 8-0 run to cut into South Carolina’s lead — which had grown to 16 points — and make it a 57-50 game.
A big run late helped South Carolina secure the win in the fourth.
Paint points vs 3-pointers
Alabama is a strong 3-point shooting team and that showed on Thursday.
The Crimson Tide, No. 12 in the country with a 37% clip as a team from 3-point range, was 10-for-30 from beyond the arc against the Gamecocks. In comparison, South Carolina made just four 3-pointers.
USC continued to dominate in the pain, and the discrepancy in paint points help make a difference on the final score.
The Gamecocks finished with 44 paint points to Alabama’s 20. The Gamecocks also out-rebounded the Crimson Tide 39-31
Game MVPs: Madina Okot and Joyce Edwards
South Carolina’s senior forward had a phenomenal night in Tuscaloosa.
Okot recorded her 17th double-double of the year and didn’t need long to do so. She had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone. Okot finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds. The 6-foot-5 center has now recorded a double-double in each of the last four games. Okot also made her fourth and fifth career 3-pointers and tied her career-high with four blocks in the game.
“I thought she hit her stretch a couple of games ago where nothing seemed to go right for her,” Staley said. “And I thought we just kind of did some adjustments in our offense to just give her some more direction as to where to be. And it’s kind of working out for her. ... Now I think it’s just clearer, and she’s just playing more aggressive basketball. That benefits us, obviously.”
Honorable mention goes to Joyce Edwards, who also finished with a double-double after scoring 23 points and bringing in 12 rebounds.
Edwards’ scoring was instrumental to the win, especially after Okot’s scoring cooled off in the second half.
“Joyce shoots herself out of a cannon all the time,” Staley said. “I think she plays fairly quickly. I think her athleticism and her quickness really gives her an advantage to shoot the ball to drive past people or actually posting up. I thought we did a great job at finding her, especially when she had two feet in the paint and a guard on her. So she won the matchup when there was somewhat of a mismatch.”
Adhel Tac, Raven Johnson updates
Sophomore forward Adhel Tac missed her second straight game for the Gamecocks.
Tac wore a boot on her left foot Thursday. Staley said earlier this week Tac is “day to day” with a lower leg injury.
On a positive note, South Carolina got sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel back from injury vs Alabama. McDaniel had missed the last two games with what appeared to be a lower leg injury (she wore a boot on her foot while on the bench against Tennessee).
McDaniel played 27 minutes in her return. She tied her career-high with 10 points.
“We’ve missed her,” Staley said of McDaniel. “I didn’t want to play her as many minutes as I did play her, but she was just playing so well, and she looked comfortable, and she looked like she missed playing basketball. So we played her a little bit longer than I anticipated and she was just playing extremely well. We need Maddy. Maddy makes us a better basketball team.”
Raven Johnson played sick, Staley told the SEC Network after the game: “We didn’t know if she was going to play.”
Johnson, who averages 28 minutes a game, played 19 minutes against Alabama. She was seen going to the locker room at least twice during the game. Staley said Johnson would be “ready to rock and roll” for South Carolina’s Sunday game vs Ole Miss.
Fresh unis for the Gamecocks
South Carolina unveiled a new uniform combination vs Alabama.
The uniforms are all black white accents. The jersey is highlighted by a large South Carolina logo with a glossier finish than the Gamecocks’ usual jerseys. Three stars with a similar finish — signifying the program’s national championship wins — are above the numbers on the back of the jersey.
This will likely be the last new uniform combination South Carolina women’s basketball debuts as an Under Armour school.
South Carolina’s deal with Under Armour expires this summer and Nike will be the athletic department’s main apparel sponsor starting July 1. Staley’s program is expected to get a “full redesign” of its uniform offerings in the first four years of the Nike deal.
South Carolina’s next games
- Sunday, Feb. 22 vs Ole Miss, 12 p.m. (ESPN)
- Thursday, Feb. 26 vs Missouri, 8 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Sunday, March 1 at Kentucky, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Wednesday, March 4 - Sunday, March 8: SEC Tournament in Greenville, SC
This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 10:20 PM.
