Ashlyn Watkins discusses bringing energy in dominant first half vs. UConn

It was a dominant first half for South Carolina against UConn, with the Gamecocks going into the break with a 14 point lead. A key piece of that first half lead was the play of Ashlyn Watkins for South Carolina.

Ahead of halftime, ESPN caught up with Watkins and broke down the energy that she was able to bring to the game for South Carolina.

“I thought I had the energy,” Ashlyn Watkins said. “I’m trying to get my team going and pull away from this team. UConn is a great team and I think that we can push on them, attack them, and defend.”

Watkins went into the half with eight points and six rebounds, after a very strong first half performance. However, she pointed to the performance of Te-Hina Paopao as particularly inspiring for the rest of the team after she scored 16 in the half.

“It gives us a lot of energy,” Watkins said of Paopao’s performance. “It gets us going and lets us know that each of us could score, each and every one of us can score on every one of them. So, we just gotta go and keep attacking and just put it away.”

Ashlyn Watkins got the start against UConn because South Carolina is without star Kamilla Cardoso for the game. Cardoso had the opportunity to play for her home country on Brazil’s national team, however, that created a conflict for the game against UConn. In turn, that created an opportunity for Watkins.

This season, Watkins has averaged 9.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. That is happening in about 19.9 minutes per game this season for the incredibly promising sophomore. On top of that, she’s averaging 2.7 blocks per game on the defensive side of the court.

Dawn Staley praised South Carolina’s defense against UConn

After allowing just 44 points through three quarters, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley praised the team’s defense ahead of the fourth quarter.

“We’re locked in,” Dawn Staley said. “I think if it wasn’t for us being able to defend, it would be a real hard game to watch. Fortunately for us, our players are just locked in. We want to muddy up their offense. If you allow them to do what they do, it’s pretty basketball and they’re so efficient that we just try to knock a couple percentages off. They’re high percentage shooters, and it’s working great.”