South Carolina women's basketball: Joyce Edwards is learning how to handle double-teams
Joyce Edwards received the pass in the post. She tried to back down, but that was shut off. Then she tried to spin away, but that closed up too. Edwards was trapped. She tried to shoot but lost control of the basketball. Edwards ended up diving on the floor, hopelessly trying to make a play.
Against Indiana it felt like the whole game went like that. Even when Edwards made a good play like a steal or a rebound, something – a foul, a trip, or a whistle – happened to prevent her from scoring.
Edwards finished with five points on 2-8 shooting with five turnovers. It was the lowest-scoring game of Edwards’ career, something she called “growing pains.”
“You’ve just got to turn the page really quickly,” she said after the game. “I learn from the game. I look back, and I watch the game.”
Indiana aggressively double-teamed Edwards every time she touched the ball – “the whole time,” she said. It was one of the first times in her career that Edwards faced an opponent who was determined to stop her. She tried to look at that as a positive.
“People are starting to double me and stuff. It kind of recognizes my impact as a player,” she said.
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That’s what happens when you lead your team in scoring and earn first-team All-SEC as a freshman.
Between the second round and the Sweet 16, Edwards studied the film. She tried to figure out what Indiana did, how they did it, and how to counter it. Making those adjustments is the next step in Edwards’ progression.
“My dad was the one who said it,” Edwards said. “He said it in the middle of the season that you’re on top of the scouting report. Teams are scouting for me now more, which is to be expected; it’s March Madness. Teams will do anything to prevent South Carolina from winning.”
Maryland watched the film, too, and borrowed a lot of what worked for Indiana. The Terrapins aggressively double-teamed Edwards and tried to force the ball out of her hands.
Edwards was again limited, scoring just six points. But she also grabbed seven rebounds in her 19 minutes and only turned the ball over once. It wasn’t perfect, but it was an improvement.
“I’m just relieved, man. It was a dogfight for sure,” Edwards said. “We just got back to it, finding our rhythm, finding our groove. We came out with the win, so that’s all that matters.”
