It took about a quarter and a half to shake off Sunday, but there was no looking back once it happened.
South Carolina women’s basketball spent most of the first half against Arkansas stuck in the mud of a lethargic pace against Arkansas, but woke up for a run right before halftime and dominated the Razorbacks 95-55 at Colonial Life Arena.
On paper it was the mismatch of the conference season with Arkansas (9-19, 2-11 SEC) entering the game in the league basement and South Carolina (24-3, 12-1) coming off its worst loss of the year, but the tale of the tape did not prove as such immediately.
Although it was not as debilitating as it was Sunday, South Carolina’s offense was still a tick slow. A lot of possessions ended in good shot opportunities getting passed looking for better ones, and there was almost nothing to speak of in terms of driving the lane. The Gamecocks still had the lead thanks to solid outside shooting and defense, but it took nearly nine minutes for this usually paint-crashing team to even hit a layup, a seal Sania Feagin finally broke with two in a row late in the opening frame.
Two guards finally broke up the monotony of the game in different ways. Bree Hall from the outside, MiLaysia Fulwiley inside. Hall had her best shooting game of the season, knocking down three 3-pointers in the first half including two on consecutive possessions. As for Fulwiley, she took over in a way only she truly can.
The sophomore guard provided the instant injection of life her team needed, doing everything in less than a minute. In one swoop after Arkansas cut the deficit to five she knocked down a 3-pointer on a quick release from the corner, had a jumping assist to Chloe Kitts for a mid-range jumper, then picked up a steal and transition layup. It was less than a minute, and not even her last highlight of the night.
Fulwiley added a scintillating overhead finish on an and-1, a jumping finish on an alley-oop, another seemingly impossible bucket on a falling away layup and a precise assist to Feagin through traffic to beat the third quarter buzzer.
Defensively South Carolina also bounced back, an expected, but still noteworthy accomplishment. While Arkansas languishes in the SEC basement, the Razorbacks do have SEC leading scorer Izzy Higgenbottom. She entered the game fifth nationally in scoring with 24.1 points per game, but the Gamecocks held her to just 3-of-17 shooting and 10 points.
Joyce Edwards went on a personal 7-0 run in the second half as part of a 22-2 run for the team, once again leading the squad in scoring with 18 points. Tessa Johnson broke out of her shooting slump by getting back-to-back triples to go down in the fourth quarter and also scored in double-figures, along with Fulwiley, Hall and Kitts, the latter of whom also had 13 rebounds for a double-double.
The Gamecocks are still tied with Texas for the SEC lead, meaning ifthey win their final three conference games, they wil claim the conference regular season title. Next up wil be two road tests, though, with trips to Vanderbilt and Ole Miss looming before the home finale against Kentucky.
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