Dawn Staley opens up on Angel Reese's impact in games

The South Carolina women’s basketball team survived a brutal road challenge in a top-ten matchup against the No. 9 ranked defending national champions, the LSU Tigers. In the end, head coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks toppled the Tigers in Baton Rouge 76-70.

It was not a surefire win for South Carolina in the Thursday night primetime matchup. In fact, LSU led most of the match. However, things took a turn for the Tigers when star forward Angel Reese fouled out of the game. From there, the Gamecocks were able to rally and pick up the win. Following their victory, Staley addressed what Reese’s absence down the stretch meant for both ball clubs.

“Angel, she’s a talent,” said Staley. “She’s aggressive, poised, she’s very unselfish. Like she would give up lay up to kick out to the three. She’s mean, physical; she’s somebody that you want to play with because you know she’s gonna play to the very end. She’s gonna give it her all. And that’s what you lose if you’re LSU, and she’s out of the game for the last four minutes of the game.”

South Carolina started the fourth quarter down by four, 56-52, and we’re able to make a comeback. Unfortunately for LSU, with 4:02 remaining in the game and nursing a 67-65 two-point lead, Reese would foul out. However, LSU did not initially feel the impact of the loss of their star forward until Staley and company targeted her replacement.

“Obviously, they did a great job trying to score [and] taking the lead in her absence. But, you don’t get another offensive rebound; she’s gonna get it. You don’t get a steal; you don’t get a spectacular block. And for us, we tried to capitalize on her absence by picking on the freshmen.”

“I thought [Aalyah] Del Rosario did a great job, she held her own, [and] she’s getting better. But when you lose Angel, you lose a big part of what they do because she touches the ball and she makes the right decisions,” said Staley.

In the end, Reese finished the game with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and shooting better than 50 percent from the field on 7-15 shooting. While Del Rosario put up a valiant effort in the final four minutes of the game, Resse’s presence as an impact player was missed, resulting in South Carolina remaining undefeated in conference play and on the season at 18-0.