Chloe Kitts' early scoring spurs South Carolina's offense in SEC Tournament Championship

Chloe Kitts‘ run of games at the 2025 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start.

In the Gamecocks’ postseason opener against Vanderbilt, the junior forward scored a career-high 25 points on 12-14 shooting. By grabbing her 10th rebound late in the fourth quarter, she also logged her third double-double in as many games.

Kitts was not the only one of South Carolina’s stars that shown in the contest. MiLaysia Fulwiley, in addition to making multiple highlight-reel plays, scored a team-high 15 points, grabbed six rebounds and generated four steals.

After the final buzzer sounded, Fulwiley said Kitts’ on-court contributions pushed the team to play better.

“I feel like, when Chloe is doing good, it motivates all of us to want to do good,” Fulwiley said. “When Chloe is playing like that, we’re a hard team to beat.”

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The Gamecocks followed that same string of logic during the SEC Tournament Championship against Texas on Sunday. While it took some time for the team as a whole to find its footing, Kitts’ early scoring put South Carolina on a path towards clinching its second consecutive conference title.

Her efforts over the course of the entire tournament resulted in her adding to her trophy case, too. Not only did she make the All-SEC Tournament team, but she was also named the SEC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“Chloe is a dog. I mean, inside, outside, whatever you give her, you tell her to go, she’s going to go and get that bucket,” Sania Feagin said. “Total props to her, MVP. Well-deserved.”

Kitts scored the game’s first points, sinking a two-point jumper 18 seconds after the opening tipoff. But as the first quarter went along, both teams continued to struggle offensively. The Gamecocks led 12-10 after the opening 10 minutes of the game but shot just 5-16 (31.3%) collectively. The Longhorns, meanwhile, were 5-15 (33.3%) from the floor.

Kitts also led off the second quarter with a made bucket – this time, a layup. At this point in the contest, she had made all three of her shots and accumulated seven total points. Everyone else on South Carolina’s roster had made the same number of baskets and scored the same number of points but on 14 total shot attempts.

Then, the Gamecocks flipped a switch, as Kitts’ bucket kickstarted an extended scoring run for South Carolina. Over the next five minutes, the Gamecocks scored 13 points to the Longhorns’ zero, extending their early advantage to 27-10.

South Carolina had finally grabbed a hold of the lead, and it didn’t let it go the rest of the way. From that point onward, the closest Texas came to retaking the lead was at the start of the third quarter, when it faced a 13-point deficit.

“Basketball is a game of runs. When you have runs, and you hear our fans screaming, screaming, it helps a lot,” Raven Johnson said. “We know what that feels like because, in one of the first days we were here, we played Vanderbilt, and they had a run in the third quarter. So, we want to keep our foot on the foot on the gas at all times. I think that first game has prepared us for that.”

The Gamecocks also saw more players contribute to its overall offensive display, both during this run and for the rest of the game.

Fulwiley herself had a relatively slow start against the Longhorns. She made her first basket of the game but shot 0-3 the rest of the first period. She would eventually take over the game, as she tends to do, during South Carolina’s offensive outburst.

Fulwiley began by grabbing a defensive rebound, running the full length of the court and powering through contact for an and-one layup. Fulwiley remained composed at the free-throw line, making another shot to complete the three-point play.

Then, she logged another rebound and made a full-court pass to Tessa Johnson, who finished the play with a fast-break layup.

More players than just Fulwiley stood to benefit from the rally. Tessa Johnson scored five of her 14 points, including one of her two three-pointers, during that run. Both Feagin and Joyce Edwards, both of whom scored 11 points in the contest, also contributed some of their first points early in the second quarter.

Kitts went on to put up a stellar stat line herself. She finished the game with a team-high 15 points (on 7-12 shooting) and nine rebounds, in addition to three assists, one block and one steal.

Raven Johnson said Kitts’ strong performances are the result of her playing with a chip on her shoulder.

“They left her off the SEC teams – she should’ve definitely been on one of those SEC teams,” Raven Johnson said. “She wants to win. That’s the biggest thing about her, and I love that about her game.”

Most people are their own toughest critics, and Kitts is no different. But she said figures within the Gamecock women’s basketball program helped her achieve individual success over the last three days.

“I feel like I played fine. I can always play better, of course,” Kitts said. “But I wouldn’t have been in this situation without all my teammates and all my coaches.”

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