South Carolina women's basketball pulls away from Auburn in the fourth quarter

It seemed like South Carolina’s defense was still enjoying the bye week, but the Gamecocks pulled away in the fourth quarter for an 83-66 win over Auburn.

After a five-game span where South Carolina shut down some of the nation’s best offenses, it didn’t seem like Auburn, 113th in the nation in scoring at 69.2 points, would pose much of a threat.

Instead, the Gamecocks had no answer for DeYona Gaston in the post and allowed the Tigers to shoot around 50% for most of the game. Gaston finished with 31 points on 14-22 shooting. 

“When she steps on the court, she’s going to give you everything she has,” Johnnie Harris said. “This was a big stage. One of the things I told our players is that this is a big stage and you have to embrace it. I really feel like DeYona embraced it.”

“She gave us the business,” Dawn Staley said.

Auburn shot an even 50%. And when Auburn did miss, it crashed the offensive glass. The Tigers got 15 second-chance points off nine offensive rebounds.

“Offensive boards kills us,” Joyce Edwards said. “We’ve been having a problem with that. We have to lock in, and we boxed out better in the second half.”

It wasn’t enough for the Tigers because they couldn’t slow down the Gamecocks or take care of the ball, and the Tigers only got two points from bench players.

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South Carolina shot 57.1% But the biggest difference was the Gamecocks’ ability to force turnovers. South Carolina forced 23 turnovers that led to 25 points. Auburn got just 13 points off 15 South Carolina turnovers.

“We can guard you in the halfcourt, we can disrupt you, we can force you into bad shots,” Staley said. “That doesn’t mean it’s automatic to score on the other end. What we did today was we produced points from our defense. We knocked the ball loose, we got steals into easy baskets.”

“Depth. Basically it was depth. We had a couple of players that got in foul trouble and I had to sub,” Harris said. “They just took over. They got some runouts, it was our turnovers, it was their transition baskets that really was the difference in the ballgame.”

For three quarters, Chloe Kitts and Edwards were keeping South Carolina ahead almost by themselves. They combined for all seven points in a 60-second, 7-0 run that broke a 27-27 tie in the second quarter. 

“We reversed the ball to the opposite side of the floor and Lay found me both times,” Kitts said. “I just made those shots. My team kept telling me to shoot the ball, so it was just listening to them.”

By the middle of the third quarter, with South Carolina clinging to a seven-point lead, the pair had scored 26 of the Gamecocks’ 53 points.

“A little rusty. There’s a cadence to our schedule,” Staley said. “When that cadence is broken with a bye week, which we’ll take it, it throws you off a little bit.”

Edwards finished with a team-high 18 points, her fifth consecutive game leading South Carolina in scoring. Kitts was one rebound shy of a double-double, and her 13 points included a three-pointer for the second game in a row.

MiLaysia Fulwiley added 17 off the bench, and Bree Hall hit a couple of threes in the fourth quarter to hit 10 points.

Notes:
During a pregame ceremony, A’ja Wilson’s jersey was unveiled along the baseline, between the women’s championship and men’s Final Four banners. The jersey will be moved to center court with other retired jerseys. … Players and coaches wore A’ja Wilson shirts and #22 decals were placed on the court. … Bam Adebayo (who sat between A’ja’s parents Eva and Roscoe), Allisha Gray, Jackie Young, Wanda Sykes, and Plies sat courtside. Aces coach Becky Hammon and president Nikki Fargas also attended the game. … South Carolina has won 56 consecutive SEC games and 70 consecutive home games, both SEC records. … Despite allowing the offensive rebounds, South Carolina finished plus-one rebounding. … Raven Johnson had a career-high six steals. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore a sheer black jacket over her A’ja shirt. … Announced attendance was 18,000. It was the fourth consecutive sellout. … South Carolina’s next game is Thursday at Georgia.

This is a developing story. Stay with GamecockCentral for continuing coverage…

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