South Carolina women's basketball handles business against Vanderbilt

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Kamilla Cardoso tied her season-high and #1 South Carolina took care of business against Vanderbilt with a 91-74 win.

Coming off the mentally and physically exhausting game agianst LSU on Thursday, Dawn Staley was concerned about how South Carolina would perform on Sunday. When it took a buzzer-beater from Raven Johnson to give South Carolina a lead after one quarter, it looked like her concern was legitimate.

Then South Carolina took control of the game in the second quarter. The Gamecocks used a 19-5 run to turn a 20-18 deficit into a double-digit lead. They capped the run by holding Vanderbilt scoreless for over four minutes and scoring eight straight points.

“I was a little nervous about how they would respond. Vandy is a really good team,” Dawn Staley said.”Slowly we got Kamilla (Cardoso) the ball and then our defense started making them go a little bit further into their offense.”

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Cardoso scored 13 of her 23 points in the third quarter, helping to push the lead to 20 points. She shot 5-5 from the floor and 3-3 from the line against the smaller Commodores. Vanderbilt resorted to playing 6-4 freshman Aiyanna Mitchell, who had only appeared in nine games, to try to slow down Cardoso, but to no avail.

“We’re really in the process of getting Kamilla to be more dominant,” Staley said. “She’s very, very unselfish. I know she wants to be more dominant. We have to put her in positions to be just that.”

Vanderbilt never backed down, and a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter forced Dawn Staley to put some of her starters back in the game. South Carolina scored the next six points to go back up comfortably by 20.

“They made them in bunches where it felt like we were right there and then we were down eight,” Shea Ralph said. “We’d close a little bit and then we were down 11.”

Aga Makurat scored a career-high 18 points for Vanderbilt. She hit 4-7 from three, and her long-range shooting kept Vanderbilt from being blown out.

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Sacha Washington finished with 18 points, but she had just seven in the first three quarters. South Carolina shot 51.5% for the game and held Vanderbilt to 40.3% shooting.

In addition to Cardoso, the Gamecocks got their usual balanced scoring. Six other players had at least nine points and five finished in double figures. Bree Hall and Ashlyn Watkins each had 11 points. Raven Johnson and MiLaysia Fulwiley had 10 apiece, and Paopao and Sania Feagin had nine points.

Vanderbilt’s zone defense gave South Carolina some trouble in the first quarter, but it required made baskets to set up. As the game went on and South Carolina locked down Vanderbilt, the Commodores couldn’t get set and South Carolina took advantage.

Notes:

Staley said there is no announcement about whether Cardoso will play with Brazil in the Olympic qualifying tournament. Cardoso would miss at least the Missouri and UConn games if she does. … Sunday’s contest was South Carolina’s annual We Back Pat game. Both teams wore special shooting shirts for the occasion. … The first sellout of the season included new pregame flame launchers and fireworks. … Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers was part of the sellout crowd. … Laeticia Amihere and Aliyah Boston also sat courtside. … Paopao was just 1-7 from three, but her lone make helped spark South Carolina’s second-quarter run. … South Carolina has won 51 consecutive games at Colonial Life Arena. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore a black hoodie that said “BOO” on the front, a reference to her joke that LSU fans called her “Boo.” Someone asked for the design and when Staley saw it she wanted her own. She had to change the color of the print from gold to silver so it didn’t match Vanderbilt’s colors. … Announced attendance was 18,000, making the game a sellout. … South Carolina’s next game is Thursday at Auburn.

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