South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks beat Oklahoma to advance to the SEC Tournament final

Joyce Edwards scored 21 points, and South Carolina dominated the paint to beat Oklahoma 93-75 and advance to the SEC tournament championship game.

Oklahoma had first-team All-SEC post Raegan Beers, but South Carolina had depth and rest. All three of South Carolina’s primary forwards scored in double figures, and even little-used Maryam Dauda made an impact off the bench. 

Edwards led all scorers with 21 points. Sania Feagin added 14, and Chloe Kitts had 10 points. Kitts also had four assists.

“We’re resilient,” Edwards said. “The good thing about South Carolina, you have so many players that can score, whether it’s midrange, layups, threes. We’re not depending on one thing, and it showed today.”

Dauda, who played just three minutes on Friday, played 12 impactful minutes on Saturday. She had five points, three steals, two rebounds, and a block. She was so effective guarding Beers that she even drew a couple of frustration fouls on Beers. 

South Carolina scored 50 points in the paint. They also hit 19-24 from the free throw line, repeatedly getting to the rim and drawing fouls.

“It was a collection,” Dawn Staley said. “People dumped it off to Chloe yesterday. Joyce same thing today where she made plays. People made her life a little easier at times by getting her involved. It’s more of us individually and collectively playing our best basketball.”

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The paint prowess more than made up for a dismal shooting game from three. South Carolina shot just 2-15 from three and didn’t hit from behind the arc until Tessa Johnson broke the seal in the fourth quarter.

Johnson finished with 11 points and five rebounds, and again played stingy defense.

MiLaysia Fulwiley had another explosive game. She scored 19 points, had five assists, three rebounds, and two steals. Fulwiley was 1-3 from three, but she didn’t settle for jumpers. She drew five fouls and went 6-7 from the line. 

“I feel like I’ve got a lot of tricks in my bag,” she said. “I have to know when and when I don’t need to do those. I feel like I got that today.”

By comparison, Oklahoma got just 26 points in the paint and went 8-12 from the line.

“We needed to do more in the paint,” Jennie Baranczyk said. “I think when you dominate the paint, you’re going to dominate the game.”

Oklahoma came into the game with the second-best rebounding margin in the country, plus-12.1. On Saturday, South Carolina outrebounded the Sooners 42-41. It was a team effort by the Gamecocks. Raven Johnson was the leading rebounder with six boards.

Beers had just seven points on 2-10 shooting, plus eight rebounds. Sahara Williams led the Sooners with 17 points.

South Carolina shot 47.4% and held the Sooners to 39.4%. South Carolina got 22 points off of 16 turnovers and gave up just four points on eight turnovers.

“They made it difficult,” Baranczyk said. The whole environment made it difficult for us. You want to start a heck of a lot better than you do. You can’t pass it to ’em because they’re too good, they convert too easy.”

Notes:
South Carolina wore its “Cocky” alternates. The Gamecocks also wore them in the SEC tournament semifinal last season. South Carolina is 4-1 in these alternates this season. … South Carolina advanced to the tournament final for the sixth consecutive season. The Gamecocks have won the past two and four of the past five. … Adhel Tac and Maddy McDaniel got in for the final minute. They were the only Gamecocks who played but didn’t score. … Oklahoma shot 11-33 from three. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore a garnet sweatsuit and an “Everybody Watches Women’s Sports” t-shirt. … South Carolina’s next game is on Sunday against Texas or LSU.

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