South Carolina women's basketball beats Tennessee for second straight unbeaten season
South Carolina Women’s Basketball: News • Recruiting • Schedule • Roster • Stats • SEC Standings • NCAA Polls • Scholarship Chart
On Senior Day, South Carolina’s veterans delivered big games, and its transcendent freshman helped the Gamecocks secure their second consecutive undefeated regular season with a 76-68 win over Tennessee.
South Carolina became the first SEC team to post back-to-back 16-0 seasons and the first team to go undefeated in conference play in over 20 years. The Gamecocks are the first SEC team ever to post back-to-back undefeated regular seasons.
“It hasn’t sunk in quite yet,” Te-Hina Paopao said. “Our goal was to win this season. No matter what it took from our team we were going to win.”
“They’re super competitive group. They don’t really like losing and they can play a lot of different styles of play, especially offensively. Defensively I think do a pretty good job of holding serve and playing the way we need to play,” Dawn Staley said. “I am super proud of them.”
[GamecockCentral for $1: In-depth coverage and a great community]
Seniors Kamilla Cardoso had 18 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out, and Paopao notched 14 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley got her first SEC start and chipped in 13 points and five rebounds.
South Carolina took control of the game in the last 4:45 of the first half. During that span, South Carolina hit 5-7 shots while holding Tennessee to 1-6 shooting. After the game was tied at 29, South Carolina finished the half on a, 11-3 run to take an eight-point halftime lead.
“They just don’t have a lot of deficiencies,” Kellie Harper said. “I thought we did some good things throughout the game. We’d like to have a few possessions back.”
In the third quarter, the Gamecocks put the game in the hands of Paopao and Fulwiley. The Lady Vols couldn’t stay in front of either player. They repeatedly got to the rim off the dribble, creating layups or easy assists.
“It started on my defensive side,” Fulwiley said. “I picked up on defense and it helped me get confidence to be able to finish those buckets.”
Top 10
- 1
Don Brown fired
UMass parts ways with HC
- 2
Iowa QB out
Ankle injury sidelines Brendan Sullivan
- 3
Phil Longo fired
Wisconsin announces firing of OC
- 4
Peter Boulware chimes in
FSU legend offers Norvell advice
- 5
Paul Finebaum
'Kirby Smart was different'
South Carolina led by as much as 15 in the third quarter, but Tennessee used a 10-0 run spanning the break to get back in the game.
Fulwiley ended the run with a pair of free throws, but moments later Tennessee pulled within 63-60 on a tough jumper by Rickea Jackson. Cardoso scored back-to-back layups, the second off a drive by Fulwiley, to put South Carolina back in control.
“Every time we made a run they capitalized. They did a really good job of attacking in those moments,” Harper said. “You’ve got to be able to play both ends of the court and string together a longer stretch of plays.”
Ashlyn Watkins, who had a quiet game up to that point, scored six straight for the Gamecocks. She capped the run with a steal and layup to push the lead back to 11, just like she did in the first game in Knoxville. Watkins and Bree Hall each finished with 13 points.
[On3 App: Get South Carolina push notifications from GamecockCentral]
Jackson led Tennessee with 29 points and eight rebounds. Jewel Spear and Jasmine Powell each had 12 points.
Neither team shot the ball well. Tennessee shot 36.4% and South Carolina shot 33.3%, but the Gamecocks attempted 15 more shots because they were plus-16 on the glass and plus-four in turnovers.
Notes:
The Gamecocks wore shooting shirts honoring their three seniors. … Paopao’s family gifted her teammates and coaches with hand-made leis. … South Carolina also honored former Gamecock assistant and Lady Vol player Nikki McCray-Penson. Before the game, videos of Dawn Staley and Kellie Harper sharing their memories of McCray and her son Thomas were played. … Scouts from the Dallas Wings and Los Angeles Sparks attended the game. … Darius Rucker and Shane Beamer attended the game. … Hall had a career-high three blocks, highlighted by a stuff of Rickea Jackson to end the first half. … South Carolina is now 56-0 at home since unveiling the A’ja Wilson statue. This was the first time this season South Carolina did not win by double-digits at home. … Senior Sakima Walker played three minutes but did not register a stat. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore a garnet Gamecock sweater over the t-shirt honoring the seniors. … Announced attendance was 18,000. It was the fifth official sellout of the season. South Carolina had nine sellouts before this season. … South Carolina’s next game is the SEC Tournament quarterfinals against an opponent to be determined on Friday at noon.
