Streak over. And not just over, annihilated.

South Carolina women’s basketball’s 71-game home winning streak was over before halftime, as No. 7 UConn handed the Gamecocks a historic loss by a 87-58 score at Colonial Life Arena.

The day started with optimism, crowds lined up outside the arena three hours before tip-off and a two-hour special from College GameDay, but the good Gamecock vibes dissipated immediately. After a slight feeling out process led to an 11-9 South Carolina (23-3) lead early, UConn ripped off a furious run to all but end the contest before it ever started. The Huskies went on a 22-3 run with four three-pointers in the mix, turning a sold out crowd into a dead silent, shell-shocked one other than a pocket of Huskies fans in the corner by the visitor’s bench.

UConn made seven of its first 11 3-point attempts in a sensational shooting performance, getting contributions from Azzi Fudd, Sarah Strong, a perfect 3-of-3 game from Ashlynn Shade and of course one Paige Bueckers blast.

But a hot UConn shooting game does not tell the story. It almost lets South Carolina off the hook for its performance if you just boil it down to an opponent knocking down shots. The Gamecocks were passive offensively, completely unable to stop any Husky who wanted to drive off the dribble and failed to close down shooters all day. Despite having a size advantage — at least on paper — UConn smoked them 15-6 on the offensive glass, zipped the ball around all day to win the assist battle 22-7 and took better care of the ball with only X turnovers.

It was not one identifiable problem, but every identifiable problem. A total faceplant in the biggest home environment of the season, the likes of which this program simply has not seen in over half a decade. The final tally went down as South Carolina’s worst home loss since a 94-69 defeat against Baylor early in the 2018-19 season, a year the Gamecocks lost 10 games and went down in the sweet sixteen.

The one and only South Carolina spurt of the game came with a brief run to cut the UConn lead to 10 midway through the second quarter, but the Huskies immediately responded with an 8-0 run to squash any flickers of life from the home team.

And in the second half, it was all Fudd. The senior guard scored 23 points in the half alone, cooking the Gamecocks with 3-pointers, jumpers, layups and everything in between. It was Fudd’s day, it was UConn’s day, it was everybody and everything except what South Carolina was looking for.

Now with just two weeks left in the regular season and four until the NCAA Tournament, the soul-searching will begin.

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