South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks survive scare from Michigan
South Carolina got all it could handle from a scrappy Michigan team but escaped Las Vegas with a win.
The undersized Wolverines started five guards, including three freshmen. What they lacked in size, they made up for with five players who could shoot and get to the rim. Defensively the Wolverines played a zone and hoped the Gamecocks would miss shots.
They missed a lot. South Carolina shot just 33.3% and 5-26 from three. Michigan was even worse, shooting 31.0%.
“I think our players are playing extremely unselfish, (but) we need to find a way to put the ball in the hole,” Dawn Staley said.
South Carolina clearly missed having a dominant post player. There was no rim protector that made Michigan afraid to drive.
“I thought they just put us back on our heels,” Staley said. “I thought they got all the 50-50 balls. I thought they just played harder. They just attacked us. They imposed their will on us and they were in attack mode for most of the night.”
Michigan jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led 21-18 after one quarter. The lead was 38-37 at halftime. South Carolina turned up its defensive intensity in the second half and used an 8-3 run to take control.
“I thought we did pretty good controlling their drives to the basket,” Staley said. “Once they drove to the basket if we got out of position, they got ahead in the possession and they just made us scramble. I thought we did a better job at that.”
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A 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter gave South Carolina a nine-point lead, but then the Gamecocks went cold. They didn’t score for the next six minutes, going 0-8 during that span. Michigan wasn’t much better and only scored five points.
“Their zone – we didn’t attack the paint,” CHloe Kitts said. “We didn’t post up. There are a lot of stuff offensively we could have done better.”
Bree Hall hit a jumper to end the drought, and then Raven Johnson made a pair of free throws to put South Carolina up 64-56 with 56 seconds left. The lead seemed safe, but freshman Syla Swords made two three-pointers and Johnson missed two free throws to make South Carolina nervous.
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After the second three, Kitts made a pair of free throws. Johnson blocked another Swords three, and Joyce Edwards made 2-4 free throws down the stretch for the final margin.
During South Carolina’s slow start, Kitts almost single-handedly kept the Gamecocks in the game. She finished with 19 points, tied her career-high with 14 rebounds, and added a block and a steal.
“Just playing hard,” Kitts said. “Lisa Leslie came and talked to us at the Aces’ facility and she just told us to show up every night. I feel like I took that and I’m going to try my hardest to show up every night from now on.”
Tessa Johnson scored 15 points off the bench, and Edwards chipped in 10 points, seven rebounds, and two steals.
“Basketball is kind of simple,” Johnson said. “If they take my three-point shot away, I can take the midrange. Or if they take my midrange away I’m going to look for a layup.”
But it was Swords who stole the show. The freshman point guard was the fifth-ranked player in her class and the highest-ranked player in Michigan’s program history. She had 27 points and 12 rebounds and seemed to be able to get to the rim whenever she wanted.
“Golly. I’m happy she’s in our program,” Kim Barnes Arico said. “She’s just a competitor. I’ve never seen anything like it. She’s relentless, she has a motor She just makes things happen.”
Notes:
Maddy McDaniel was in uniform and participated in warmups but did not play. Sakima Walker also did not play. … Both teams had 52 rebounds. Michigan had 21 second-chance points and South Carolina had 17. … Las Vegas Aces players Chelsea Gray, Alysha Clark, and Jackie Young were at the game. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore a black and gold Chanel sweater. … South Carolina’s next game is Sunday against NC State in Charlotte.
