South Carolina women's basketball: 20 most memorable moments at Colonial Life Arena

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Colonial Life Arena opened on November 22, 2002, with a women’s basketball game. Over the last 20 years, it has become one of the most important venues in the sport. We look back at the twenty most memorable moments at CLA.

20. The First Game (November 22, 2002)

The first game at the then-Carolina Center was between South Carolina and Clemson. South Carolina christened its new arena with a 72-58 win, and a record crowd of 17,712 took advantage of $1 tickets to see the new arena as much as the game. 

19. UConn lost (November 2014)

With the passage of time, this merges together as one day, but it actually unfolded over about a week. South Carolina was the preseason #2 behind UConn, who was riding a 90-game winning streak. Then Stanford upset UConn on Monday night. All South Carolina had to do was beat a pair of overmatched opponents, Clemson and San Diego State, and the following Monday the Gamecocks would ascend to their first #1 ranking in program history. South Carolina won those games 99-41 and 89-39. Dawn Staley didn’t want to talk about the ranking until it happened, no matter how often she was asked. It happened, and it was a momentous occasion. Nobody could have imagined that seven seasons later the Gamecocks would go wire-to-wire #1 and nobody would bat an eye.

18. Drive for 5 (Fall, 2013)

By 2013, Dawn Staley had taken South Carolina to consecutive NCAA tournaments. The Gamecocks had a small but fervent following that was starting to make Colonial Life Area one of the louder buildings in the SEC. Average attendance had increased to nearly 4,000 fans per game, 23rd in the country. South Carolina launched an ambitious “Drive for 5” campaign, inspired by Staley’s jersey number, to bring at least 5,000 fans to every game, an increase of almost 30%. It seemed foolhardy. It wasn’t Average attendance jumped to 6,371, tenth in the country. By the end of the season, South Carolina was winning the SEC in front of 10,000 fans. The next season, South Carolina averaged 12,293, beginning a streak of eight years and counting leading the nation in attendance. (Anecdotally, it was about this time I started trying to convince people they needed to check out a game. Convincing people to go to the first game was hard; every one of them asked me about going to a second.)

17. Alaina Coates’ triple-double (December 13, 2015)

With her frontcourt partner A’ja Wilson sitting out the game, Coates took advantage of the much smaller Eagles to the tune of 29 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 blocks. Staley left Coates in the game in the fourth quarter to get her tenth block, and Coates furiously chased every shot that went up before finally getting her school-record tenth block.

16. “There’s no place like home” (February 2, 2014)

Staley had already assembled a top-ten recruiting class, but there was still one more piece: A’ja Wilson. The weekend of Wilson’s visit, South Carolina went all in. During timeouts, they played video messages from other local athletes who chose to stay home. They gave out highlighter-yellow shirts that said “There’s no place like home.” The student section held up a cardboard cutout of Wilson’s face (Officially, USC insisted the students did it on their own and it wasn’t an NCAA violation. USC is also selling oceanfront property in Arizona.). The crowd chanted “We want A’ja!” The crowd – a big crowd was expected, but it was huge. People just kept coming and coming. The hard sell worked, and that was the moment Gamecock women’s basketball as we know it was born.

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15. Kelsey Bone’s putback (February 10, 2013)

Prior to her second season in Columbia, Staley signed Bone, the #2 recruit in the country. Bone was supposed to be Staley’s signature player, and the duo would catapult South Carolina to greatness. Instead, after one rocky season in which seemingly nobody was happy, Bone transferred. Things were so acrimonious that Staley and the remaining players held a press conference to essentially say, “good riddance.” That made it especially painful when Bone tipped in an offensive rebound to give Texas A&M a 50-48 win, and even more galling when she ran off the court screaming, “This is my house!” It was South Carolina’s lost home loss for nearly three years.

14. First First Four (March 16, 2022)

In the wake of the embarrassing gender discrimination made public during the 2021 men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, the NCAA made several changes to bring the women’s tournament closer to equal footing with the men’s tournament. Colonial Life Arena happened to be where those changes became public. The first-ever First Four game in a women’s tournament was there, with Incarnate Word falling to Howard. There were March Madness signs everywhere, a phrase that had previously been barred from the women’s tournament. 

13. Aliyah Boston’s triple-double (November 5, 2019)

South Carolina was coming off a dysfunctional season. Three players transferred, four graduated, and Staley revamped the roster around the top-ranked recruiting class. The first inkling we had that the class would be pretty special was when Boston messed around and recorded a triple-double with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 blocks (in just 21 minutes). She remains the only player to record a triple-double in her first game.

12. SEC champions – February 23, 2014 

More than 10,000 fans saw South Carolina clinch a share of its first SEC regular season championship. In six seasons, Staley had taken South Carolina from 2-12 in the SEC to 14-2. SEC titles are expected now, but you always remember your first.

11. South Carolina hosts the NCAA Tournament for the first time (March 19-20, 2015)

A few years earlier, Ohio State tried to woo Staley away. Reportedly, one of the arguments that made Staley consider it was that South Carolina was not allowed to host NCAA tournament games, putting the Gamecocks at a decided disadvantage. That ban was lifted in time for the 2015 tournament, and there was something special when South Carolina hosted media day on March 19, with the NCAA’s signature blue (now black) carpet laid down and NCAA cup monitors in place. The games were played the next day, and South Carolina easily dispatched Savannah State 81-48.

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10. CLA hosts GameDay (February 20, 2022)

Just two seasons earlier, South Carolina felt ignored by ESPN. Now the Gamecocks got the biggest platform the Worldwide Leader had to offer when it hosted GameDay and the game was broadcast on ABC, just the second time a women’s basketball game had been broadcast over the air. It was an hour-long advertisement for South Carolina, and the sellout crowd and players put on a show. The Gamecocks pulled away from Tennessee in the second half and reminded everyone the SEC runs through Columbia.

9. A’ja dances into the sunset (March 18, 2018)

South Carolina beat Virginia 66-56 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The build-up was juicy. It was Staley versus her alma mater, and at that time the relationship was somewhat strained. And it was Wilson’s final game at Colonial Life Arena. It ended up being slightly disappointing. Staley diffused any drama, and Wilson led the Gamecocks to a comfortable win. Barely a month earlier, South Carolina gave out replica pearl necklaces for Wilson’s senior day ceremony. There was nothing organized this time. When the game ended, Wilson danced around the court, posing for pictures and thanking the fans, with the fans thanking her back, and trying to extend her final home game as long as she could.  

8. Gary Blair needs a beer (January 26, 2015)

After #1 South Carolina cruised past #12 Texas A&M 79-61, Blair eased into the media room. He’d just gotten his first look at South Carolina, now a championship contender rather than an up-and-coming program. “I hope y’all weren’t selling beer up there,” he said, referring to the concourse concession stands. “I could use one.” Blair may not have been the first opposing coach to feel that way after playing the GAmecocks, but he certainly wasn’t the last. That quote continues to come up at least twice a season in the media room.

7. Phantom foul (January 30, 2017)

South Carolina had become the SEC’s top program (and was on its way to a first national title), including three straight wins over Tennessee. That didn’t sit well with the Lady Vols. Tennessee was relatively down that season but had built a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. Bianca Cuevas-Moore sparked a rally and tied the game at 74 with 15 seconds left. Tennessee played for the final shot, but Jaime Nared slipped as she started to drive. A whistle blew. Tyasha Harris, the nearest defender, was called for a foul. Replays clearly showed Harris didn’t touch Nared, who lost her balance on her own, but Nared sank two free throws to win the game.

6.  The Aggies foul (January 17, 2016)

Colonial Life Arena has seen its share of buzzer-beaters, but none was more improbable than this finish. #15 Texas A&M took advantage of missed free throws to complete a last-minute comeback. With 3.4 seconds left, Taylor Copper caught the Gamecocks napping and fired a full-court pass to Chelsea Jennings for an incredible game-tying layup with 0.9 seconds left, a play Blair insisted they had practiced. There wasn’t enough time for South Carolina to get off another shot, but Shlonte Allen, who had just entered the game seconds earlier, forgot the score and intentionally fouled Khadijah Sessions. Sessions had struggled from the line all game and missed the first free throw. She made the second and South Carolina somehow escaped.

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5. Brawl (January 28, 2018)

The bad blood between South Carolina and Mizzou was long and, well, bad. South Carolina had been upset in its last two trips to the other Columbia. Staley felt the officiating had been slanted in the first loss, and when the same officials were assigned the next season, she got ejected and then publicly called out the SEC. Sophie Cunningham was known throughout the league for her dirty play that she always seemed to get away with, and even worse, she was good. A second-quarter battle for a rebound turned into a brawl involving all ten players. Multiple Missouri players were ejected for leaving the bench, while Cunningham walked off the court into the crowd. You could feel the tension building to that point all game, but it was still shocking to see it actually happen (Watching it four years later, it’s still shocking that Cunningham wasn’t ejected. She was clearly an instigator who then walked into the crowd). Things didn’t cool down after the game, as Mizzou AD Jim Sterk repeated debunked accusations about Missouri players being spit on and claimed Staley had fostered a hostile environment. Staley sued Sterk for defamation, and Sterk ultimately settled and apologized.

4. Three buzzer-beaters (December 22, 2019)

Tyasha Harris sank a three-quarter court buzzer-beater to end the first quarter. Then Zia Cooke made a floater in the lane right before halftime. And then Destanni Henderson put back her own blocked shot as the third quarter expired. One game, three buzzer-beaters. If only Harris hadn’t dribbled out the final 20 seconds. Also, Lisa Boyer wore her Christmas elf outfit.

3. Kentucky ejections

In 2014 John Calipari was ejected in the second half of a loss to unranked South Carolina. In 2015, Matthew Mitchell was ejected in the second half of a loss to South Carolina. And in 2016, Calipari didn’t even last the first three minutes of the game before getting tossed. What does it mean? Nothing. But it was a crazy streak and hilarious to watch as it happened.

2. A statue (January 18, 2021)

As Wilson’s career wound down, Staley floated the idea of building a statue in Wilson’s honor. What began as an offhand comment slowly picked up steam. Staley offered a donation to start the funding. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2021, it became a reality. It was believed to be the first statue of a women’s basketball player. Since then, a number of other statues have gone up as other schools have realized they should do more to honor their female athletes. And in Columbia, it’s a destination. Fans meet at the statue for pictures. When Incarnate Word played in the First Four, they came back the next day to take pictures with the statue. Every recruit that comes through campus stops at the statue. Compared to some venues, Colonial Life Arena can be rather featureless, but the statue is its defining characteristic.

1. Celebrate (February 10, 2020)

South Carolina was the consensus best team in the country and won a national championship in 2017. But the Gamecocks had never beaten UConn, and people were quick to point that out. UConn was #5 that season and was relatively down from where it had been. This was the time. South Carolina delivered with a 70-52 rout. It’s hard to pinpoint the most memorable moment because there were so many. Traffic was backed up to the Vista before the game, yet somehow the sellout crowd had the building packed when doors opened. They screamed their heads off for an hour before the game tipped off, two hours, and then another 30 minutes after it ended. South Carolina brought the flame launchers over from Williams-Brice for pregame introductions. Mikiah Herbert Harrigan hit a dagger three, spread her arms, and soaked in the entire scene. A frustrated Geno Auriemma said, ‘We’re allowed to lose a (curse word) game once in a while.” It was a perfect night at Colonial Life Arena.

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