South Carolina women's basketball: Beating LSU was a reminder that everyone is still chasing the Gamecocks

As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s South Carolina women’s basketball.

Have to replace the entire starting lineup? No problem, just go undefeated next season.

Have to learn to play without a dominant post for the first time in a decade? That’s okay, the guards can take the reins while new forwards emerge.

Lose a regular season game for the first time in three years? That’s okay, there’s still a pretty nice home winning streak and SEC winning streak.

That might be the biggest takeaway from South Carolina’s 66-56 win over LSU on Friday: nothing has changed.

The win extended the Gamecocks’ home winning streak to 69 games, their SEC winning streak to 54 games, and their streak over the Tigers to 17 games. It also was their 13th consecutive win by double-figures.

“They’re the best in the country. I know UCLA put it on them, but I do think (that),” Kim Mulkey said after her record at LSU dropped to 0-5 against South Carolina. “I don’t know that I’ve ever coached against a team that’s got 10 McDonald’s All-Americans on a roster. How do you even keep 10 on a roster? That’s what we faced today, and what a challenge it was.”

[Win tickets: South Carolina-Auburn WBB]

Less than a week early, Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk had similar feelings after her Sooners got blown out 101-60.

“They beat us bad, and they’re really, really good,” Baranczyk said. “They’re who all of us are looking at in terms of being able to build the depth that they have, the culture they have, the crowd. This is, right now, the example in women’s basketball.”

Those two final scores show how good South Carolina is. The Gamecocks can win an offensive landslide of a defensive slugfest.

“I think we’re chameleons, so to speak,” Dawn Staley said. “We can play the type of game that’s being played. I thought we were forced to play a certain way tonight, and it was just the gravity of the game. It was necessary for us to win this game, the implications of the SEC standings, the NCAA Tournament, like all of those things matter. And we can say it’s not a big game, but it’s a big game.”

What doesn’t change, and hasn’t changed in the 17 seasons Staley has been at South Carolina, is that the Gamecocks defend. It gets overshadowed sometimes by the great offenses (last season was a good example), but playing South Carolina has always meant you are in for a struggle.

Somehow it took losing Ashlyn Watkins, the team’s best defender, for this season’s Gamecocks to unlock their defensive potential. 

South Carolina’s last three home games were against opponents who came in with top-four scoring offenses. Texas (90.4 points, fourth), Oklahoma (88.1, fourth in the NCAA), and LSU (90.6 points, third in the NCAA). They scored 50, 60, and 56, all the lowest-scoring games of the season.

In between was a road game at Alabama, who came in averaging 80.8 points, 15th in the country (and 88.1 points at home). South Carolina only allowed 58 points, the fewest Alabama has scored at home all season.

“We’re doing this for Ash,” said Raven Johnson, who had five steals against LSU. “She’s a big part of our team. When she went down, we want to do this for Ash. We want to keep going, We want to win for Ash. When we had the loss at the beginning of the season, we needed that, honestly. It made us come back together and made us realize we can’t come back like last year. We’ve got to bring something else to the table.”

The result is that the Gamecocks are in the same position they usually are. UCLA still sits atop the polls, but everything else seems to be as the calendar turns to February.

South Carolina holds a one-game lead on everyone in the SEC, plus the tiebreakers with LSU, Alabama, and Oklahoma (Texas has a chance to even things in Austin on Super Bowl Sunday). The stranglehold on the SEC remains intact.

South Carolina sits atop the NET rankings and is projected to be a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they are the favorite to win a national championship. 

Again.

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