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South Carolina women's basketball Rapid Reaction: Charleston Southern

On3 imageby:Chris Wellbaum12/19/24

ChrisWellbaum

South Carolina women's basketball forward Ashlyn Watkins (Photo by Katie Dugan | GamecockCentral)
South Carolina women's basketball forward Ashlyn Watkins (Photo by Katie Dugan | GamecockCentral)

South Carolina needed three quarters to wake up against Charleston Southern. Here’s what stood out from the 82-46 win.

– So maybe moving the game to noon wasn’t a great idea. South Carolina’s first quarter was atrocious, and there wasn’t much of a crowd to provide a boost. Dawn Staley joked on Wednesday that she would “threaten them” to get the players focused, but clearly that didn’t work. 

Staley also said she understood that players might have trouble focusing, but I’m still pretty sure she’s putting coal in their stockings. 

The slow start was understandable, but needing until the late third quarter to pull away was almost unforgivable.

– The Maddy Mouse Club continues to grow. She drove and made a tough basket to end South Carolina’s 7:30 field goal drought in the first quarter. In the second quarter she drained a three from the corner to give South Carolina a 19-16 lead. Oh, and the 5-9 point guard blocked a layup by Charleston Southern’s 6-5 Saniya Jones. 

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McDaniel finished with six points, a team-high five assists, a rebound, a block, and a steal. She continues to look completely unfazed by the college game. 

– I have a story on Adhel Tac and the “other” posts running Friday, but there was one thing about Tac I noticed against Charleston Southern that isn’t in that story. On one second-quarter possession, Tac was about one-and-a-half times the size of the skinny defender, with at least a six-inch height advantage. South Carolina failed to get her the ball to take advantage of the mismatch, but Tac also didn’t demand the ball.

She’d step into the paint, wait a second, and then back out. She should have planted herself in the paint, demanded the ball, and dared the officials to call a three-second violation. She had such a height advantage that all the Gamecocks had to do was throw it high and let her lay it in, the Kamilla Cardoso offense. I don’t think it’s in Tac’s nature to be so assertive, but hopefully that will develop.

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