South Carolina women's basketball: Joyce Edwards' career-high leads the sluggish Gamecocks over Charleston Southern

South Carolina closed out its pre-Christmas schedule with an uninspired 82-46 win over Charleston Southern. For the second consecutive game, Joyce Edwards scored a new career-high with 20 points.

South Carolina moved its game against Charleston Southern from 7:00 pm to noon so the players could get an earlier start on Christmas break, but apparently, the players started even earlier. South Carolina seemed to sleepwalk through the first half, even trailing 15-11 after the first quarter.

The Gamecocks went almost 7:30 between their first and second field goal of the game and finished just 2-14 for the first quarter. It wasn’t just poor shooting – the Buccaneers outrebounded the Gamecocks by four and shot 39%.

South Carolina started to turn things around in the second quarter. Maddy McDaniel hit a three from the corner – only her second career three – to break a 16-all tie but South Carolina still led just 34-26. 

At halftime, Dawn Staley didn’t read her players the riot act or go on the paint-peeling rampage they were dreading. She walked in a drew a question mark on the white board.

“I said a lot, but I’m not going to blow my top,” Staley said. “I understand where they are in this type of game. I’m not making excuses for them. But when you know, you know. You try to fight and get them back to a good place.”

[GamecockCentral has gift subscriptions]

The Gamecocks got 10-0 and 8-0 runs in the third quarter to take control of the game, and finally took their first 20-point lead a little over a minute into the fourth quarter. 

“I feel like all of our minds were on break, to be honest, but we understood when came out after halftime we had to lock in,” Edwards said. “The game shouldn’t have been that close.”

South Carolina finally looked like the no. 2 team in the country in the fourth quarter and made the final box score look decent. Still, it was a far cry from the 63.5-point spread or the 64-point drubbing they gave the Buccaneers two years ago.

Edwards led all scorers with a career-high 20 points, passing her previous career-high of 15 set against USF. She was the only Gamecock in double figures and also had six rebounds and two steals.

“The more you play, the more experience you get, the better you’re going to be,” Edwards said. “Some of the teams we play are more of a challenge mentally rather than physically, so it’s just coming in with more focus.”

Ashlyn Watkins had eight points and a team-high eight rebounds She also had three blocks. Maddy McDaniel provided a spark with six points, a team-high five assists, and a block. Raven Johnson had nine points, seven rebounds, and four steals. Te-Hina Paopao and Bree Hall each had eight points.

South Carolina shot 62% in the second half to make it 46% for the game. The Gamecocks were plus-eight rebounding, plus-13 in turnovers, and plus-12 in points off turnovers.

Catherine Alben had 14 points to lead Charleston Southern. The Bucs were held to 30% shooting.

Notes:

Steve and Jeri Spurrier attended the game. They sat on the baseline near the Gamecock bench. … Adhel Tac got some rare first-half playing time. She registered one foul in four minutes. … Maryam Dauda played the last four minutes and scored two points. … Chloe Kitts did not play in the second half. She was scoreless with one rebound in eight first-half minutes. … South Carolina had 50 bench points. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore a black “Uncommon” hoodie. The staff wore garnet pullovers, including associate head coach Lisa Boyer, who disappointed fans and Christmas aficionados by not wearing her elf outfit. … Announced attendance was 15,154. … South Carolina does not play again until December 29 against Wofford.

Discuss South Carolina women’s basketball on The Insiders Forum!