SEC Champs!

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Zia Cooke scored 24 and Aliyah Boston had 18 points and seven rebounds as South Carolina beat Tennessee 74-58 for its third SEC tournament championship in four years.

Boston went to work early, scoring the first four points of the game and 10 in the first quarter. Tennessee tried to single-team her, zone her, and double-team her, but the only thing that slowed Boston down was Dawn Staley taking her out of the game for a breather.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Tennessee tied the game at 21. Cooke had been 0-3 in the first quarter, but she scored 10 points during a 12-0 run that put South Carolina in front for good.

“I just tried to remain focused,” Cooke said. “I think in the beginning it was hard for me to get shots, but as I continued to get play things started to open up, so it was pretty good.”

Jordan Horston scored six straight late in the half to pull Tennessee within 37-31 at halftime. Rickea Jackson hit a spot-up three early in the third quarter to make it a three-point game.

South Carolina answered with a 9-2 run, and then the reserves put the game out of reach. An air ball by Brea Beal turned into a perfect pass to Kamilla Cardoso for a layup. Cardoso had been scoreless up to that point but the easy basket woke her up. She scored again a moment later and finished with 13 points. 

“I wasn’t doing really good in the first half,” Cardoso said. “I have to see one of my baskets go in. Then everything is going to click and I’m like I’m here, I’m ready.”

Bree Hall checked in for the first time right after Cardoso’s basket. 47 seconds later, Tennessee left her wide-open and she buried a three to give South Carolina a 55-40 lead.

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“Before the shot, (Staley) was in my ear, ‘Be ready for a shot, be ready for a shot,’” Hall said. “I was open so I thought it was a good shot.”

In the fourth quarter, South Carolina pounded the ball inside and repeatedly earned trips to the free throw line. South Carolina shot 10-12 from the line and rebounded both misses. 

“I thought a lot of our fouls came on the boards,” Kellie Harper said. “We were trying to get in there and we were outsized, but we were trying to be physical and trying to get the right position.”

South Carolina’s inside game did the heavy lifting and the Gamecocks finished the game 20-24 from the line, with 34 points in the paint, and a 39-33 rebounding advantage. But it was a three-pointer by Cooke with three minutes left that sent the record crowd into a frenzy.

“I thought we just bared down and started playing like we normally play, putting possessions together where we’re scoring, getting stops,” Staley said. “I think over the course of forty minutes and the amount of people that we were able to throw at them, they weren’t as sharp as they were throughout the entire game. That’s just a product of our depth.”

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Cooke finished with 24 points, five rebounds, and three steals. She played elite defense all game, and every time South Carolina needed a play on either end of the court, she was there.

“Zia wants to win more than anything,” Staley said. “She finds her way of impacting the game on both sides of the basketball. So I really didn’t anticipate her getting as many steals as she got, but when she had that fire in her eyes she was going to make something happen.”

Cardoso had eight rebounds and two blocks. Brea Beal finished an outstanding weekend with eight points, eight rebounds, and six assists. 

South Carolina played without starting point guard Kierra Fletcher, who suffered an ankle injury in the semifinals. Raven Johnson started in place of Fletcher and had three points, five rebounds, and five assists. She also played strong defense for all of her career-high 38 minutes.

“I think I did good, definitely on the defensive end and also running the team,” Johnson said. “Going fast in transition and slowing down when we had the lead, slowing us down and running our sets.

Dawn Staley cuts down the SEC championship net. She’d like to cut down another net here in about three weeks. pic.twitter.com/ZP0EPrcsG8

— Chris Wellbaum (@ChrisWellbaum) March 5, 2023

Notes:

The All-tournament team is Alexis Morris, Rickea Jackson, Jordan Horston, Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke. Boston is the tournament MVP. Boston was also the MVP in 2021. … South Carolina finished with only four blocks, but still set a new single-season school record with 288 blocks. … Horston had 19 and Jackson had 17 for Tennessee, but nobody else scored in double figures. … South Carolina has now won seven of the last nine SEC tournaments. … Aliyah Boston braids report: Boston had red braids with pink highlights. … Dawn Staley fit report: Staley wore a black Louis Vuitton jacket over a black “WBB” shirt. … South Carolina now waits for the NCAA Tournament Selection show to find out its next opponent. The selection show is Sunday at 8:00 ET.

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