South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks rout Tennessee Tech to advance to the second round

South Carolina used a record-setting offensive explosion to rout Tennessee Tech 108-48 and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Gamecocks’ defense stole the headlines during their SEC tournament championship run, but on Friday they reminded everyone they can score a little bit too.

South Carolina’s 108 points established a new program record for points in an NCAA tournament game. It surpassed the previous record of 100 points scored against Quinnipiac in the 2017 Sweet Sixteen.

The 60-point margin of victory is also the largest in a tournament game in program history.

South Carolina also set a new tournament program record by scoring 60 points in the first half. It passed the old record for points in a half (56), set last season against North Carolina in the second round.

All 12 available Gamecocks played and scored. Freshman Joyce Edwards led all scorers with 22 points. She was one of four Gamecocks in double figures, and three others scored at least eight points.

“Just all about discipline, being focused, executing the game plan,” Edwards said. “You know, sometimes we get leads. Sometimes we lose our focus; they come back. I feel like that was our biggest thing coming in here is just staying focused and staying focused on our main goal.”

MiLaysia Fulwiley added 15 points and a career-high four blocks. Tessa Johnson had 11 points and led South Carolina with six assists, tying her career-high. Chloe Kitts had 10 points, six rebounds, and three assists.

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South Carolina shot 67.2% overall and 63.2% from three. The former was a season-high. The latter was a missed Maddy McDaniel three at the shot clock buzzer in the final minute away from tying the season-high set at UCLA (66.7%).

“I think once (Te-Hina) Paopao hit a couple of shots and Tessa hit a couple of threes, it loosened up just a little bit to where we were able to maneuver a little bit more normal than having so much help,” Dawn Staley said. “They compacted so much. Once we hit shots from the outside, it felt a little normal after that.”

Both percentages were tournament program records. 

The Gamecocks also set new program records for field goals made (43), threes made (12), and assists (25).

“We played a team on a mission today, on a mission to win a national championship,” Kim Rosamond said. “If they shoot the basketball like that the rest of the way, they’re going to be almost impossible to beat. It’s incredible.”

The Gamecocks didn’t forget how to defend, either, holding the Golden Eagles to 32.2% shooting, going plus-32 on the glass, and getting 25 points off of 18 turnovers. 

Taris Thornton led Tennessee Tech with 13 points. Peyton Carter added 12.

Notes:
It was technically a comeback win for South Carolina. Tennessee Tech took an early 2-0 lead, but the Gamecocks outscored the Golden Eagles 108-46 over the final 39:22 of the game. … Hall-of-Famer Lisa Leslie attended the game. She is staying with Staley. … Men’s basketball head coach Lamont Paris was at the game. … Zachary Davis, who announced earlier in the day he intends to enter the transfer portal, was at the game, presumably to support his girlfriend Tessa Johnson. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore an off-white Louis Vuitton sweatsuit. … Announced attendance was 11,683. … South Carolina’s next game is against #9 Indiana on Sunday.

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