They say defense travels, and it needed to.

South Carolina women’s basketball missed 20 of its first 25 shots from the floor — including a dozen layups — in its rivalry game at Clemson, but its defense kept the No. 1 Gamecocks in striking distance long enough for the shooting to wake up.

Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks closed the first half on a 17-0 run to flip an early deficit into a double-digit advantage, and pulled away from Clemson 77-45 to win its 14th consecutive game in the rivalry. It was also the program’s 43rd consecutive win overall, setting the record for longest in school history.

Last year, South Carolina (5-0) overpowered Clemson (3-1) right from the start, going on a 28-0 run in the first half to eventually get its largest margin of victory in the rivalry ever. This year took a little longer to get going, but the same lengthy run turned the tide.

Clemson took a 17-12 lead on a Mia Moore 3-pointer midway through the season, the culmination of a stretch where South Carolina’s halfcourt offense looked the worst it had all year and it sorely relied on its defense just to stay within shouting distance. Finally after a frustrating quarter and a half of getting decent looks and not connecting, some dribble-drives started connecting.

Bree Hall put the ball on the deck and scored inside to start the run, and Te-Hina Paopao followed it up with a nearly carbon copy play scoring inside heading into the second quarter media timeout. Once the ball got rolling, there was no looking back. A procession of five straight layups accounted for 10 points to officially turn the tide, and just before the break, Tessa Johnson announced her return.

The sophomore guard missed the last two games with an ankle injury, but after emphatically declaring at practice yesterday she would play tonight, knocked down South Carolina’s first 3-pointer of the night to beat the halftime buzzer and make it a 17-0 run going into the break. Paopao and Hall canned their own triples on their first two attempts on the other side of the half and by the time Clemson mercifully stopped the bleeding, it was a 23-0 run and a 35-17 South Carolina lead to quell any notions of an upset.

It was a much better and more efficient second half offensively once the layups started falling and the floor spaced, although it remained an unconvincing performance with a pair of top-10 opponents — UCLA and Iowa State — on the horizon in the next eight days. Starting point guard Raven Johnson’s struggles continued with another 2-of-7 shooting game and only three assists, Paopao led the team in scoring with 13 points but needed 15 shots to get there and the team finished with more turnovers than assists.

This is still a process, and March is still a long way off. But now the margins will get thinner, and the opponents far tougher.

************************************************************************

Looking to continue the conversation? Join us on the insider's forum to talk all things South Carolina women's basketball.