Dawn Staley addresses how Kamilla Cardoso matches up vs. Oregon State bigs

On Sunday, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso and Oregon State’s Raegan Beers will wage war in the paint. Ahead of the Elite Eight showdown, Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley revealed the key to Cardoso securing the upper hand against Oregon State’s standout big.

“What’s important is positioning,” Staley told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “Post play is all about positioning. We can’t give Beers the position that she wants; maybe a little bit further out. Instead of having two feet in the paint, two feet outside the paint.

“For Kamilla, two feet in the paint and make [Beers] guard our length. It’s a great matchup. I think it’s great for women’s basketball. I think it’s great just to see how we scheme against each other and and hopefully we put on a good show.”

Standing at 6-foot-7, Cardoso boasts a three-inch height advantage over Beers. Nonetheless, Beers is no slouch. The All-Pac-12 First Team member averages a team-high 17.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game while shooting a wildly efficient 66.7% from the field.

For comparison, Kamilla Cardoso averages 14.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per contest while shooting 59.4% from the floor. However, it’s worth noting Cardoso averages more than twice as many blocks per game.

Kamilla Cardoso and Raegan Beers respect each other

Despite Cardoso’s defensive advantage over Beers, she knows not to take the Pac-12 standout lightly. Earlier this week, Cardoso discussed Beers’ game.

“She’s a great player. She works really hard on her post-ups,” Cardoso said. “She’s good on both ends of the floor. She does a lot of work early so we’ve got to play our defense, do our work early, try to front her.”

Talented opponents are nothing new for Beers. In Pac-12 conference play, Beers regularly played against standout centers such as UCLA’s Lauren Betts and Stanford’s Cameron Brink. She had 21 points against the Bruins and tallied 35 total points in two games against Stanford.

Beers paid equal respect to Cardoso on Friday.

“Obviously, we can’t go into [Cardoso] as much because she is 6-foot-7 tall, lengthy and can block your shot like no other,” Beers said. “Finishing up in a way like we have been against other tall post players in the Pac-12 is really important, especially tomorrow when I get some really phenomenal post-play. We are excited to figure out that challenge tomorrow.”

No matter who comes out on top down low, fans are in for a treat. South Carolina and Oregon State will clash at 1 p.m. ET on ABC. The winner will advance to the Final Four.