South Carolina women's basketball: Mental health helped Bree Hall flourish

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It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Bree Hall had waited her turn for two years. Two years of hard work and steady progress that put her in a position to not only start but be one of the Gamecocks’ key players.

The season started and South Carolina raced out of the gates, blowing out opponents and reclaiming the number one ranking. But Hall was struggling. 

Through the first five games, Hall averaged a modest 7.4 points, with just one double-figure scoring game. It was an improvement over the 5.0 she averaged as a sophomore, but hardly the breakout she expected.

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Worse, Hall was hitting just 22.7% from three. It was an unfortunate carryover from the Final Four, when Iowa dared Hall to shoot, counting on her to miss even though she was one of South Carolina’s best shooters.

“I’ve been upset a lot of times, especially at the beginning of the season when I didn’t have my flow going,” Hall said. “(I was) just trying to figure out who I was and what I could do for the team. There was just, like I’ve said, upset moments.”

The problem was mental. When Hall didn’t immediately meet her own expectations, she got down on herself. Hall discussed her struggles with Dawn Staley, who reassured Hall everything would work out.

“When you’re playing on a team full of great talent, sometimes it takes you a while to get going,” Staley said. “She always feels better after she talks to me because it’s not as bad as she creates in her head, it really isn’t.”

It’s a continuing conversation between the two, as Staley encourages Hall to stay the course.

“She’s pulled me aside, had conversations with me, and helped me with my confidence,” Hall said.

Things turned around beginning with the game at North Carolina. She scored 15 points (of South Carolina’s 65), hit 3-4 from behind the arc, and played tough defense on North Carolina’s Deja Kelly.

“I wanted this badly,” Hall said after the game.

She said she found confidence in the Stanford game from her sophomore season. In that game, Hall scored 12 points, her career-high at the time, and hit a clutch three-pointer in overtime as the Gamecocks came back from a late deficit to win.

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“I think we can go back to the Stanford game,” Hall said. “I think that was one of the games where I was very poised, very calm. I think I applied it today.”

The North Carolina game was a catalyst for Hall. She followed it up with 13 points against Duke, and hit 3-4 from three in three consecutive games. 

In the nine games since then, Hall is shooting 61.8% from three and averaging 11.9 points. She has picked up her performance even more in conference play, where she has scored 15 points in each game and hit 5-8 from three, each seemingly coming at a crucial moment. Hall has also been South Carolina’s top perimeter defender and a model of consistency. 

“I’m really super proud of Breezy,” Staley said after the Mississippi State game. “She is comfortable on both sides of the basketball. She’s a very disciplined player. I often use her as an example of, no matter who she’s guarding, she approaches it the same way. They could be a 30-point scorer, they could be a two-point scorer, she’s going to defend them like we need her to defend. And she can score. She can really shoot the basketball, she can get to the basket. I thought we probably should have put the ball in her hands a lot more, and more intentional.”

It doesn’t mean that everything is fixed. Hall also works with a sports psychologist (“I highly recommend it,” she said), and is open about the challenges of maintaining good mental health in high-pressure situations. But she has figured out her support system, and the results have been everything she and the Gamecocks have wanted.

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