Hot start: South Carolina WBB starts March Madness with easy win over 16-seed Southern
South Carolina women’s basketball started its 2026 NCAA Tournament journey off with a resounding win Saturday.
Dawn Staley and the No. 1 seed Gamecocks beat No. 16 Southern 103-34 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Columbia. The 69-point win is the largest margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament in South Carolina’s program history.
With the win, South Carolina (32-3) advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks will play Southern Cal, which defeated Clemson, at 8 p.m. Monday (ESPN).
No historic upset this time around
If you’re a fan of chaos in March Madness, the matchup between South Carolina and Southern wasn’t exactly for you.
The Gamecocks led for all 40 minutes of the game. The fewest Southern trailed by was two points … immediately after South Carolina scored its first basket of the game.
Southern was held scoreless for nearly the entire first quarter until a layup from Jocelyn Tate put the Jaguars on the scoreboard with 4:25 left in the period. South Carolina ultimately shot just below 50% as a team and outscored Southern 19-6 in the first quarter.
Both teams struggled to get rolling in the second quarter but eventually got shots to fall. South Carolina outshot Southern 50% to 22.9% in the first half and led 44-19 going into halftime.
Southern’s shooting woes hit a crescendo in the third quarter when the Jaguars were held to just two points in the period. South Carolina took a 76-21 lead into the fourth quarter.
“I thought Southern did a really good job of defending and doing the best that they can against our team,” Staley said. “They are a well-coached basketball team on both sides of the basketball. I like to say when we were in their position, we used to get out-talented. I thought they got out-talented tonight. Nothing against the effort that they put out there on the floor. … They should be proud of the season that they had, and they should look forward to continuing to make noise when they play the Power 4 teams and continued success in the NCAA Tournament.”
Barring an upset elsewhere in the bracket Saturday, the 2026 NCAA Tournament will be the latest rendition of March Madness where No. 1 seeds swept the No. 16 seeds. There’s only been one instance ever where a No. 16 seed has upset a No. 1 seed in the women’s tournament. That came in 1998 when Harvard beat Stanford.
Game MVP: Joyce Edwards
Joyce Edwards played like someone who has earned All-America honors from several different outlets in recent weeks vs. Southern.
South Carolina’s star sophomore forward scored 27 points, marking a new career best in an NCAA Tournament game.
“It just feels like another game,” Edwards said of her performance. “Just had to do what the defense is giving me. I found the basket today. It feels like a regular game.”
Of those points, Edwards scored 19 in the first half. Edwards also added eight rebounds, two steals and a block to her stat line.
Edwards was the lone Gamecock with double digits in the first half. She was eventually joined by Madina Okot (15 points), Ta’Niya Latson (17 points), Agot Makeer and Tessa Johnson (14 points).
“It feels great,” Latson said of the hot start. “With Joyce having the game that she had, Gotti having a career high, Tessa having a double-double. Like Coach said in the locker room, we’ve got to keep building off of it, building our momentum throughout the tournament. Staying together as a team and getting better.”
Makeer makes up for missing players
South Carolina was without two players Saturday. Sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel and sophomore forward Adhel Tac missed the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Staley told the media on Friday that McDaniel was “under the weather.”
Tac has missed the last 10 games with a lower leg injury. That being said, Tac was not seen in a boot or riding the scooter Gamecocks fans had grown accustomed to seeing.
Bench players like Agot Makeer, Alicia Tournebize and Ayla McDowell saw some more minutes with McDaniel and Tac out.
While Tournebize was the first off the bench, Makeer was the most productive of the role players. The freshman guard accounted for all nine of South Carolina’s bench points in the first half. Makeer wound up being responsible for more than half of USC’s total bench points.
Makeer played 26 minutes and finished with a career-high 15 points.
“I feel good, honestly,” Makeer told The State. “To go out with that type of game and with these people is amazing. So I feel like going forward, I have more confidence than ever.”
NCAA Tournament Second Round
- Who: No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 9 Southern Cal
- When: Monday, March 23 (8 p.m., ESPN)
- Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina
This story was originally published March 21, 2026 at 3:00 PM.
