South Carolina caps off regular season with Senior Day victory over Kentucky
Twenty minutes before tip-off, the South Carolina women’s basketball program honored its contingent of senior student-athletes: Raven Johnson, Sania Feagin and Bree Hall.
This group may not have had as many flashy, nationally-known names as past senior classes – most notably, “The Freshies,” which included three current WNBA players in Aliyah Boston, Laeticia Amihere and Zia Cooke. But there is one characteristic that sets the class of 2025 from all its predecessors – it is the winningest four-year group of players in team history.
The Gamecocks added one more victory to that total on Sunday. Still in contention for the top seed in the SEC Tournament, South Carolina capped off its 2024-25 regular season with a 78-66 win over No. 15 Kentucky.
With the victory, the Gamecocks also claimed at least a share of the SEC regular season title. South Carolina has accomplished that feat each of the past four seasons.
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The Gamecocks’ strong shooting helped them gain an advantage shortly after the opening whistle. Feagin quickly made a layup on the team’s first possession and would eventually score its first four points. South Carolina also made five of its first six shots on its way to building an early 10-4 lead.
But that run also showed its prowess on the defensive side of the basketball, as well as how its defense leads to offense. After a made jumper to give the Gamecocks a 6-4 advantage, Te-Hina Paopao generated a steal and scored a fast-break layup. Johnson did the same on the next play.
Those two plays, along with an emphatic block by MiLaysia Fulwiley later in the period, defined a first quarter that the Gamecocks finished with a 21-14 lead. During that time frame, South Carolina held all Kentucky players to 6-of-20 shooting.
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The Wildcats significantly improved on that mark in the second quarter. Led by Georgia Amoore, Kentucky made nine of its 14 field goal attempts (64.3%). It still wasn’t enough to chip away at the Gamecocks’ lead, though. South Carolina headed into the halftime break ahead by a 41-33 score.
The visitors’ enhanced shooting performance did not serve as the only encouraging sign of better play. Through the opening two quarters, Kentucky out-rebounded South Carolina 18-15. The Wildcats were especially proficient on the offensive glass, where it grabbed nine boards to the Gamecocks’ five.
Kentucky’s renewed momentum in the second half helped it gradually chip away at South Carolina’s lead. In the third quarter, Clara Strack contributed 10 of the Wildcats’ 20 points, which eclipsed the Gamecocks’ 17. Eventually, South Carolina’s lead whittled down to one point after Strack made two free throws early in the fourth quarter.
That, however, would be the closest Kentucky came to taking the lead. Fulwiley, Amoore and Strack exchanged baskets over the next minute-and-a-half before the Gamecocks blew the game open.
South Carolina went on a 10-0 scoring run in between the 5:42 and 2:59 marks of the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks’ defense also held firm during that stretch, forcing the Wildcats into committing five turnovers.
The shot that ended that run – a layup by Strack – were Kentucky’s final points of the afternoon.
