No. 3 South Carolina WBB survives upset bid by Kentucky in regular-season finale
South Carolina women’s basketball capped off its regular season on a high note.
Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks held off No. 16 Kentucky for a 60-56 victory in its 2025-26 season finale on the road in Memorial Coliseum.
The 60 points was the least South Carolina has scored all season. It’s the 10th time South Carolina has held an SEC opponent to less than 60 points.
“We only scored 60 points, but to only allow someone 56, that’s really saying something as well,” Staley said. “So we can win scoring 80 points. We can win scoring 60 points. I think it’s just a confidence builder for us just to have some success in our league.”
The win moves South Carolina to 29-2 (15-1 SEC) as the SEC Tournament approaches this week. The Gamecocks, who already clinched the SEC regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, will play Friday against a to-be-determined opponent.
Kentucky makes it interesting
South Carolina has breezed through its last five games with relative ease. On Sunday, Kentucky gave the Gamecocks a run for their money.
USC built a 14-point in the second quarter but led by just six points (33-27) at halftime. Kentucky opened the third quarter on a bit of a run and was able to tie the game at 37-37 with 6:47 left in the period. The sold-out home crowd roared when Asia Boone hit a 3-pointer to tie the game.
That crowd quickly quieted down, however, as South Carolina ended the final five minutes of the third quarter on a 13-2 run (and outscored UK 21-14 in the quarter) to take a 54-41 lead into the fourth quarter.
South Carolina appeared to be in complete control of the game going into the final period, but all momentum shifted to Kentucky late. The Wildcats were dominant in the fourth and got to within two points of South Carolina’s lead with six seconds left in the game.
Kentucky outscored South Carolina 15-6 in the final quarter, but it wasn’t quite enough.
“Missed some shots, thought we got in a scramble situation after those missed shots in transition,” Staley said of the fourth-quarter offense.
Overall, Staley felt fatigue played a role in how both teams were able to trade runs late in the game.
“I thought at times when the game was ebbing and flowing, both for us and against us, it played a part,” Staley said. “We built our lead league because they got a little bit of fatigue. They came back off of a little bit of our fatigue. And it was just that kind of battle.”
A battle in the paint
Staley predicted the matchup between South Carolina’s Madina Okot and Kentucky’s Clara Strack would be a big battle to watch in the paint Sunday.
USC’s coach was right.
Okot finished Sunday with her 20th double-double of the season. She nearly did it in the first half when she notched 11 points and nine rebound and finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks.
Strack had a dominant showing as well. She finished with 24 points and nine rebounds.
“She’s long, she’s got a high-arching shot it’s hard to get to,” Staley said of Strack. “She’s very mobile. She can put it on the floor. She can just score on all three levels, and she just keeps a defense off balance. Once she got her shot going, it allowed her to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket and score.”
Both Okot and Strack drilled a 3-pointer in the game.
The battle in the paint wasn’t limited to just Okot and Strack. South Carolina was out-rebounded by Kentucky 40-34 as a team, but it outscored the Wildcats 36-24 in the paint.
Game MVP: Madina Okot
Okot gave a valiant effort all afternoon in her battle with Strack, last year’s SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
The senior was South Carolina’a most consistent source of offense. She was the only Gamecock with double-digits in the scoring column for most of the game. She was eventually joined by Raven Johnson (11) and Tessa Johnson (12).
Okot, whose been nicknamed “Big Mama” by her coach and teammates, led all players in the game in rebounds.
“Big Mama did her thing,” Staley said. “Big Mama [scored] 21 points, 13 rebounds. I told her, if she’s got stamina to play four or five more minutes, she might be able to add to our stat line. She’s playing extremely well and composed, and I thought she did a great job for us, just anchoring on both sides of the basketball.”
South Carolina WBB’s upcoming schedule
- Friday, noon vs TBD: SEC Tournament in Greenville, SC
This story was originally published March 1, 2026 at 3:50 PM.
