South Carolina women's basketball: The 20 most memorable games at Colonial Life Arena

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Colonial Life Arena opened its doors 20 years ago. In honor of the milestone, we look back at the 20 most memorable basketball games from the past two decades.

20. Ice Storm game

You’ll have to take my word for it because I can’t figure out exactly which game this was. It was the first or second season at Colonial Life Arena and an ice storm hit Columbia. They still played the game, but everyone was encouraged to stay home and off the roads. I lived on campus, so the short walk over was no problem. I was one of the only ones. Not only were there fewer than 1,000 people at the game but there were barely 100. There’s nothing like 0.5% capacity to create an intimidating environment.

19. March 20, 2015, vs Savannah State (81-48 win)

The game itself wasn’t much to remember, but the circumstances were huge: it was the first NCAA Tournament game hosted at Colonial Life Arena. South Carolina had been banned from hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, putting the Gamecocks at a disadvantage as they were forced to play on the road while other top teams were at home. It was reportedly one of the reasons Dawn Staley listened when Ohio State had come calling a couple of years earlier. But now the Gamecocks could host and even though it was out of their control when they rolled out that distinctive blue NCAA carpet it was another sign that South Carolina was a program nearing elite status.

18. December 21, 2021, vs Stanford (65-61 win)

Stanford knocked South Carolina out of the Final Four the previous season when South Carolina missed two layups in the final seconds. The #1 Gamecocks insisted publicly this wasn’t a revenge game, but the fans disagreed, and secretly some of the players probably did too. The #2 Cardinal took an 18-point first half lead before Destanni Henderson, returning from injury, became a one-player wrecking crew. She had 17 points, seven assists, and seven steals to lead the biggest comeback in program history and quiet any internal doubts from the previous season.

17. November 21, 2020, vs College of Charleston (119-38 win)

This was the first game of the bizarre 2020-21 pandemic season. Attendance was limited to 3,500 people and a bunch of cardboard cutouts. The piped-in crowd noise only added to the strangeness, and South Carolina admittedly struggled to adapt to playing in near silence. 

16. February 10, 2013, vs Texas A&M (50-48 loss)

At the time, #14 Texas A&M was the established program, and #15 South Carolina was still the upstart. There was no shame in losing after going toe-to-toe with the Aggies, but the way it happened couldn’t have been more galling. Former Gamecock Kelsey Bone, who had a particularly acrimonious exit, made the game-winning putback in the final seconds and then ran off the court yelling “This is my house!” South Carolina got long-term revenge, though: the Gamecocks won their next 45 consecutive home games.

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15. November 22, 2002, vs Clemson (72-58 win)

In the first game at the Carolina Center, as it was then called, South Carolin beat Clemson for the first time since 2002. Attendance was 17,712, at the time the largest crowd to ever see a basketball game in the state of South Carolina. It’s still the largest non-sellout home crowd in program history.

14. January 4, 2003, vs Stetson (101-39 win)

Jocelyn Penn set the South Carolina single-game scoring record by scoring 51 points in a rout of Stetson. Penn became South Carolina’s all-time steals leader in the previous game, and she added to her legacy here. Penn scored at will against the overmatched Hatters, and for a while, it was a question of whether she would outscore them on her own. The baskets kept falling and she had a chance at half a hundred. South Carolina left Penn in the game long after the outcome was decided, but the record was worth it.

13. December 31, 2017, vs Texas A&M (61-59 win)

Somehow this is only the second-most improbable finish between the Aggies and the Gamecocks. South Carolina came back from 13 down in the second half and then got lucky. With the game tied, Texas A&M was called for a ten-second violation with 31 seconds left. South Carolina couldn’t capitalize, and Danni Williams leaked out for a breakaway layup. But she bobbled the outlet pass and was called for a double dribble, a mistake Staley credited to “ghosts.” Given another chance, A’ja Wilson hit the game-winner with 1.3 seconds left

12. February 8, 2016, vs UConn (66-54 loss)

The game itself was forgettable. UConn was on its way to its fourth consecutive championship, and South Carolina was in a transition season. But it was the first official sellout for a women’s basketball game. There have been others since, but the first time is always special.

11. November 20, 2014, vs Clemson (99-41 win)

South Carolina was the preseason #2, but there wasn’t much other than potential to back up that ranking, especially after an unimpressive season-opening win over Southern Cal. Then this game happened. Clemson wasn’t good, but the Tigers were still a power conference team that had played the Gamecocks close over the years. South Carolina annihilated Clemson, blowing out the Tigers like it was a guaranteed game. In the fourth quarter, Staley emptied the bench and still had former McDonald’s All-Americans in the game, while Aleighsa Welch and the veterans cheered them on and made sure there was no let-up. The Gamecocks had arrived.

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10. January 17, 2013, vs LSU (66-59 win)

Since moving to Colonial Life Arena, South Carolina has played just one home game in another building. This was it. CLA was double-booked with a Miranda Lambert concert, so the Gamecocks had to play in their former home, the Carolina Coliseum. Concessions were limited, workspace for media was makeshift (and not quite 21st century), but the game was a success. The Coliseum has since been renovated into a practice facility and barring more significant renovations, this goes down as the final game ever played at Frank McGuire Arena.

9. January 18, 2021, vs Arkansas (104-82 win)

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, #4 South Carolina blew out #15 Arkansas, which was no surprise. Before the game, the statue of A’ja Wilson was officially unveiled in front of Colonial Life Arena. What once seemed silly – Who has a statue of a women’s basketball player? – was now a reality. Wilson’s emotional speech at the ceremony, where she talked about how her grandmother had to walk around campus, was so touching that Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors compared her to King. The statue also made other programs realize they should do more to recognize their own greats, and more statues are on the way.

8. January 9, 2014, vs Kentucky (68-59 win)

This was the second top-ten matchup at Colonial Life Arena, and the first under Staley (also the first win). #10 South Carolina and #9 Kentucky, then a perennial top ten team, were bitter rivals at the time, and games often looked more like rugby than basketball. Kentucky would press fullcourt and dare the officials to call every foul, while South Carolina still had the attitude of the muck-it-up, fierce overachievers, except now with all-SEC talent. Like every game then, it was a knockdown, drag-out fight. South Carolina built a 22-point lead and then held off a late charge, and the balance of power in the SEC had changed.

7. February 23, 2014, vs Florida (69-55 win)/February 27, 2014, vs Georgia (67-56 win)

I couldn’t separate these two. Attendance had suddenly spiked in late January 2014 (see #3 for why), and this was the culmination of building both the fan support and the program. The Gamecocks had stars like Tiffany Mitchell and Alaina Coates on the roster, but they were still led by hardscrabble players like Aleighsa Welch and Khadijah Sessions.  A record crowd of 10,547 saw South Carolina clinch a share of its first SEC regular-season championship against Florida. Days later, they received their trophy during an on-court ceremony and then beat Georgia to clinch the title outright. More impressive? The crowd of 12,458 that watched it. All the previous big crowds had been on Sunday afternoons. This was a Thursday night. It was the high point of the season – South Carolina had disappointing showings in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments – but the Gamecocks as we now know them had arrived. 

6. February 20, 2022, vs Tennessee (67-53 win)

#12 Tennessee was “back,” only nobody told #1 South Carolina. The game was broadcast on ABC, just the second time a women’s basketball game had been broadcast over the air. ESPN broadcast GameDay from Colonial Life Arena, essentially an hour-long advertisement, and the sellout crowd and players put on a show. The Gamecocks pulled away in the second half and reminded everyone the SEC runs through Columbia.

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5. January 20, 2020, vs Mississippi State (81-79)

#1 South Carolina trailed nemesis #9 Mississippi State by nine early in the fourth quarter when Staley called timeout. She barely spoke in the huddle as the players handled everything. Out of the timeout, the Gamecocks went on a 12-2 run to erase the deficit. They got late-game heroics from Tyasha Harris, who scored the final five points of the game, and Zia Cooke, who intercepted the inbounds pass on the Bulldogs’ final possession, to earn the win in their biggest test of the season.

4. January 2, 2020, vs Kentucky (99-72 win)

South Carolina was ranked #4 but most of the country was still sleeping on the Gamecocks, and #13 Kentucky was a popular pick to pull off the upset. Instead, Brea Beal ran circles around Rhyne Howard, outscoring her in the first half and forcing her into seven turnovers. Howard ended up getting her numbers, but Kentucky was never competitive. It was a complete and total beatdown, as South Carolina proved it was the best team in the country. After the game, Staley tried to tamp down the expectations, saying “I’m not going to drink the Kool-Aid.” That just meant more for everyone else. 

3. February 2, 2014, vs Missouri (78-62 win)

The top-ranked recruit in the country played just down the road, and the Gamecocks were eager to convince A’ja Wilson to stay home. They pulled out all the stops for her official visit: they handed out highlighter yellow t-shirts that said “There’s no place like home,” they played videos of South Carolinians who became Gamecock greats about the virtues of staying home, and the crowd chanted “We want A’ja!” while holding up cardboard cutouts of Wilson (that I still don’t believe the athletics department played no role in providing). The last part is why this game stands out. I was sitting courtside before the game and the fans (they weren’t FAMs yet) started filing in. There were the usual faces – back then we knew everyone who sat behind us – but people kept coming. They just didn’t stop, and all in those bright yellow shirts. The announced attendance of 7,828 seems quaint now, but at the time it was breathtaking. Wilson, of course, was convinced, and this was the moment South Carolina women’s basketball went from a niche sport to a juggernaut.

2. January 17, 2016, vs Texas A&M

Colonial Life Arena has seen its share of buzzer-beaters, but no ending was more improbable than this one. #2 South Carolina had the lead late but kept missing free throws to keep #15 Texas A&M alive. With no timeouts left for either team, Khadijah Sessions made 1-2 free throws to give South Carolina a 58-56 lead with 3.4 seconds left. Taylor Copper caught the Gamecocks napping and fired a full-court pass to Chelsea Jennings for an incredible game-tying layup with 0.9 seconds left. There wasn’t enough time for South Carolina to get off another shot, but Shlonte Allen, who had just entered the game seconds earlier, forgot the score and intentionally fouled Sessions. Sessions again missed the first free throw, but made the second and South Carolina escaped.

1. February 10, 2020, vs UConn (70-52 win)

As a program, South Carolina had accomplished everything except beating UConn and everyone expected this to be the year. #5 UConn was down, relatively, and #1 South Carolina had looked unstoppable. This game had the type of buildup not seen since Steve Spurrer was winning 11 games per season. All of Columbia wanted a piece of this game. Every local celebrity wanted to be seen at the game. People who cared nothing about women’s basketball suddenly wanted tickets, which were going for hundreds of dollars on the secondary market. Traffic was backed up to the Vista and parking was a disaster and yet the sellout crowd found its way inside and was deafening, cheering every move during pregame warmups. South Carolina brought the flame launchers over from Williams-Brice Stadium for the pregame introductions, potential fire hazards be damned. The energy in the building was exhausting. And then the game started. Harris controlled the first quarter, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan controlled the third, and the fourth quarter felt like a big party as South Carolina cruised to the win. When the game ended, the crowd had been at a fever pitch for more than three hours, but nobody wanted to go home. The Gamecocks made a victory lap (or two or three) as everyone tried to soak in as much as they could.

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