Gamecocks overcome Aggies, take stranglehold of SEC

Second-ranked South Carolina overcame a nearly nine-minute scoring drought and the loss of starter Asia Dozier to beat No. 10 Texas A&M 70-63 on Sunday.

It was the first time USC has ever won in College Station.

The victory pushed the Gamecocks to 21-0 overall, 9-0 in the SEC and into complete control of the conference standings. Florida and Mississippi State are tied for second place at 6-3, but USC has the tiebreaker over MSU and hasn’t played the Gators. The Aggies (15-6, 5-3) are fourth, but the Gamecocks swept the regular-season series.

USC is gunning for its third straight regular-season championship. Only Auburn and Tennessee have won three straight.

The victory might have come with a price. Dozier, a senior who’s started the majority of games the past three seasons, left the game in the third quarter with a right wrist injury. The severity wasn’t immediately known, although Dozier was on the bench at the end of the game with ice.

Texas A&M went on a 15-0 run over the first and second periods as USC went 8:37 without a point. Two-time SEC Player of the Year Tiffany Mitchell woke up in the third, though, picking off passes and turning them into points. The Gamecocks’ only offensive presence in the first half, A’ja Wilson, finished with 27 points (one off her career-high), 10 rebounds and four blocks.

“I was just letting the game come to me,” said Wilson, who scored 13 of her points in the second quarter. “We knew it was going to be rowdy, and that they were going to be excited, and we were going to be excited.”

Mitchell had 20 points, 18 coming in the second half. The Gamecocks were 20-of-25 from the line.

USC coach Dawn Staley was reliant on her starters for the entire second half, outside of the injured Dozier. Bianca Cuevas, Sarah Imovbioh and Jatarie White each played three minutes or less, with Tina Roy taking over for Dozier. Outside of Roy’s one free throw, Wilson, Mitchell, Alaina Coates and Khadijah Sessions scored all of the points. Coates had a career-high six assists.

“Tiffany Mitchell’s steals got her some clean looks at the basket,” Staley said. “We just put players in positions where they could get easier looks, and our defense created some easy offense.”

The Gamecocks edged A&M 59-58 on Jan. 17 in Columbia. The game at South Carolina featured 19 lead changes, and Sunday’s encore offered nine more.

Sunday also marked the start of a rugged three-game stretch for the Gamecocks. They play host to No. 12 Kentucky on Thursday before welcoming top-ranked Connecticut on Feb. 8 to Colonial Life Arena.

Sunday’s game marked the second lowest combined rankings for women’s basketball in the history of Reed Arena, which opened in 1998. No. 1 Baylor defeated No. 6 A&M 63-60 on Jan. 30, 2011. Staley said after Sunday’s game her team didn’t get rattled because it’s accustomed to playing in tough venues in the SEC.

“Folks, that was as good as we can do, it just wasn’t good enough,” A&M coach Gary Blair said, adding he wasn’t disappointed at all in his team’s showing.

STAT LINES: The teams were nearly even in shooting from the floor. The Gamecocks made 45.3 percent (24 of 53) of their shots, while the Aggies countered with 43.5 percent (27 of 62) shooting. . No Gamecocks backup even attempted a shot from the field, outside of Tina Roy, who missed all three. She did make a free throw.

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SOUTH CAROLINA (21-0)

Sessions 3-8 3-5 10, Wilson 9-17 9-10 27, Mitchell 7-17 5-5 20, Dozier 0-0 0-0 0, Coates 5-8 2-3 12, Cuevas 0-0 0-0 0, Cliney 0-0 0-0 0, Roy 0-3 1-2 1, Imovbioh 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-53 20-25 70.

TEXAS A&M (15-6)

Hillsman 0-0 2-2 2, C. Williams 6-20 0-0 13, Howard 2-3 0-0 4, Jones 4-11 1-1 11, Walker 10-17 3-3 23, Knox 0-1 0-0 0, D. Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Jennings 3-6 0-0 6, Lumpkin 0-1 0-0 0, Mitchell 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 27-62 6-6 63.

3-Point Goals_South Carolina 2-11 (Sessions 1-2, Mitchell 1-6, Roy 0-3), Texas A&M 3-12 (Jones 2-6, C. Williams 1-4, Walker 0-1, Knox 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_South Carolina 34 (Coates, Wilson 10), Texas A&M 30 (Walker 7). Assists_South Carolina 14 (Coates 6), Texas A&M 16 (Jones 9). Total Fouls_South Carolina 16, Texas A&M 21. Attendance_8,511.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 8:07 PM.