Aliyah Boston notched a triple-double and #4 South Carolina held off #22 Georgia 62-50.

Boston finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 blocks. It was her second career triple-double, following her 12 point, 12 rebound, 10 block game against Alabama State last season. That made Boston the first player in NCAA History to record a triple-double in her debut. Thursday night she became the first player in South Carolina history to record two triple-doubles in a career, and the first to record a triple-double in an SEC game. The ten blocks tie the school record, already held by Boston and Alaina Coates.

There was confusion early in the fourth quarter when the official stats had Boston with nine blocks. Dawn Staley put her back in the game.

“I had no idea, and then coach subbed me in and said you need to go get a block,” Boston said. “I didn’t get a block and I was like, there goes that.”

It turned out that the scorekeeper had reviewed video of a series of shots by Jenna Staiti early in the third quarter and added a block to Boston’s total.

“That probably won’t be the last triple-double she’ll have,” Staley said. “Aliyah is smart. Aliyah doesn’t like looking bad.”

Staley recounted how Boston was nearly in tears after a bad performance earlier this season. Boston adapted and in the last month her focus has been to be “more dominant,” something she is doing very well. Boston is now averaging 15.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 6.2 blocks, 2.5 assists, and 1.2 steals.

“She made adjustments. She watches film, she sees how defenses are playing her,” Staley said. “She does her homework before she steps on the court.”

“It’s my focus, having that mentality of being dominant,” Boston said. “Don’t let anybody stop me from doing what I do.”

After two consecutive 100-point games, this one was at the other end of the spectrum. That probably should have been expected in a game between the second- and fourth-ranked field goal percentage defenses in the SEC.

Although both teams struggled to score, Georgia had the two most damaging stretches. The Bulldogs managed just two free throws during a seven-minute stretch spanning the first and second quarters. During that span South Carolina went on a 14-2 run to turn an 8-8 tie into a double-digit lead, and Georgia had more turnovers (14) than points (10).

The second stretch came in the third quarter. Three minutes in, Boston drew the fourth foul on Georgia’s leading scorer and rebounder Staiti, who was the only Bulldog who was having any success on offense. Staiti had to sit, and then 90 seconds later, Que Morrison tweaked her ankle and had to limp to the bench. Now without their point guard and top scorer, Georgia was outscored 14-4 over the next seven minutes as South Carolina took a commanding 54-28 lead.

“I’m super proud of our defense. Our defense is doing its job,” Staley said, adding that the defense bought time for the offense to find a rhythm.

Georgia shot 34% from the floor and South Carolina shot 35%, but the Gamecocks were able to get easy points in other ways. South Carolina made 16-24 free throws while Georgia was just 5-8. Georgia only had three more turnovers than South Carolina’s 20, but South Carolina got 22 points off while Georgia had just seven.

“Every time we did they capitalized on it,” Joni Taylor said. “When you’re playing a team that good, you can’t do that. That’s 23 extra possessions that they had.”

Saiti finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Morrison scored 11 in the fourth quarter to also finish with 15. They were the only Bulldogs in double figures.

Zia Cooke scored 16 for South cArolina, breaking out of a three game scoring slump. Cooke was pressing early, throwing up ill-advised shots in traffic and committing silly fouls, but once she relaxed the ball started going in the basket.

“I had some deep conversations with Coach, we watched a lot of film, and I was just trying to figure out what I was doing that wasn’t right,” she said, later explaining, “I didn’t think about any of the missed shots, I just went out and did the same thing. I’m working on turning the page.”

Notes:

The game was originally scheduled for January 7, but was postponed due to a false positive COVID test by a Gamecock player. … The game was part of the annual “We Back Pat” week. Because of the makeup game, South Carolina had two home games this week. Both teams wore We Back Pat T-shirts for the tenth anniversary of the effort to raise money and awareness for the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. … LeLe Grissett played without the mask she wore the past two games. … South Carolina shot 2-11 in the fourth and Georgia took advantage of garbage time to make the score respectable. … South Carolina’s other triple-doubles belong to Alaina Coates, Isla Sliskovic, Cristina Ciocan, Shaunzinski Gortman, Martha Parker, and Brantley Southers. … Victoria Saxton had nine points and 11 rebounds. … Brea Beal didn’t set another career-high, but she had a good game with nine points, seven rebounds, and a block. … All eleven Gamecocks played. … Destanni Henderson had a quiet game with two points, four rebounds, and three assists. … South Carolina’s next game is Sunday at LSU.