It had all the makings of a sleepy game. A noon tip, a light crowd, a mid-major opponent with a losing record and the last game before Christmas break. It was a tailor-made afternoon for a young team to lose focus, and Dawn Staley knew it.
“I’ve been in college before, I’ve been in this situation before,” Staley said in her Wednesday press conference. “I know it can play on the mind to want to be in two places, and you can’t fight that.”
Some things are inevitable, though.
No. 2 South Carolina women’s basketball beat Charleston Southern 82-46, but not after a sluggish first half which included just a 4-of-23 clip on jump shots, eight missed layups and one stretch of over seven minutes without a made field goal.
Eventually, it was fine. The talent gap and depth mismatch was too big for it not to be. No. 2 South Carolina (11-1) went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter to solidify its advantage and create some separation, but even the second half was not without its faults.
It was a first half so sloppy, Staley walked into the locker room and just wrote a question mark on the board. No speech, no fire and brimstone, but a point to get across.
"I'm not going to blow my top," Staley said. "I understand where they are in this type of game. I'm not making excuses for them. When you know, you know. You just try to fight and get them back to a good place. The question mark is they leave you with a lot of questions. They force us to question their ability to be locked in and disciplined. They force us to have questions about who should play, who shouldn't play, all of these things. It's just teaching."
Shooting woes continued. Sloppy cross-court passes plagued the offense. Nobody on defense had a real answer for Charleston Southern (4-9) point guard Catherine Alben, who sliced and diced her way to the rim at will and scored 14 points. And the progress on making layups from Sunday’s season-best performance seemed to take a step back, as the Gamecocks missed eight of 12 attempts in the first half.
It was a day where the vibes just felt a little bit off, even right from the start when the Gamecocks allowed two offensive rebounds on the opening possession. MiLaysia Fulwiley did not play in the first quarter, Chloe Kitts did not play in the second half and Adhel Tac saw some rare first half minutes as Staley continued chopping and changing the lineups looking for a little bit of consistency.
"I think all of our minds were really on the break to be honest," forward Joyce Edwards said. "The game shouldn't have been that close, and we came out in the second half and performed."
Edwards especially.
Every good passage of play seemed to flow through her, as the true freshman continued her recent uptick. Edwards hit a new career-high in scoring with 15 on Sunday against South Florida, and raised it again just four days later with another 20 points against the Buccaneers. She scored 15 of them in the second half, driving the play inside and working her way to the free throw line.
A 19-0 run in the fourth quarter started to resemble a team worthy of the No. 2 ranking, as the defense kicked it up another gear and created some transition opportunities. Even the layups finally started to drop, at least enough to balloon the lead.
In the end, it was a nondescript, run-of-the-mill non-conference win with just one more game to go before SEC play. You would never have known it by looking at the first half, though.
"If you get the team that is focused and ready to go, you feel a lot of comfort in that," Staley said. "If you get our first quarter team, it makes you wonder."
************************************************************************
Looking to continue the conversation? Join us on the insider's forum to talk all things South Carolina women's basketball.
