South Carolina women's basketball: Rapid Reaction - Maryland
South Carolina had to come from behind to beat Maryland and advance to the Elite Eight. Here’s what stood out from the game.
– It was a strange game, to say the least. When you look at the box score, South Carolina got everything in wanted. It held Maryland under 70 points for just the sixth time this season, outrebounded Maryland by 13, and made Maryland’s best scorers inefficient (Shyanne Sellers: 3-11, Kaylene Smikle: 6-17, Sarah Te-Biasu: 5-11).
Those positives were neutralized by fouls (more on that later), passive play, and poor shooting. Dawn Staley praised former Gamecock Lindsey Spann, who is now a Maryland assistant coach, for a great game plan, and South Carolina struggled to adapt.
Multiple players told me that the biggest change in the second half was that the Gamecocks tightened up on defense and then focused on getting out in transition.
In the first half, South Carolina had no points off turnovers and just two fast break points. In the second half, the Gamecocks shad even points off turnovers and 13 fast break points.
– Shoutout to Maryam Dauda. She only played for three minutes, but she had four points and three rebounds. For those scoring at home, South Carolina won by those same four points.
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– There is no way to spin the fact that the officiating in Friday’s game was a disaster. In the first half, South Carolina was called for 11 fouls, and Maryland was called for five. The Terrapins attempted 16 free throws, and South Carolina attempted six.
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With three minutes left in the third quarter, South Carolina had been whistled for 12 fouls, and only two Maryland players had been assessed a foul.
There were 13 fouls called in the final eight minutes of the game, and Maryland didn’t shoot a single free throw.
The officials had to review obvious out of bounds calls to get them right, and then indignantly refused to review a play where MiLaysia Fulwiley got elbowed in the face (after the entire arena saw multiple replays of it happening, crew chief Tiffany Bird finally stepped in and called for a review, but still declined to issue a foul).
There were three straight fouls called on screens, all on South Carolina. After the game ended, they decided to review the clock and added 0.5 inconsequential seconds, and then forgot to run the clock.
It was 2023 Final Four bad. Here’s hoping we don’t see Bird, Michael McConnell, or Nykesha Thompson for a long, long time.
