With 2:20 left in the first quarter, Dawn Staley went to her bench during the media timeout. Already leading Charleston Southern 19-3, Staley put a brand new Gamecock in the game for her first career action.

Chloe Kitts, the class of 2023 five-star freshman prospect who just arrived on campus last week as an early enrollee, checked into the game and made her collegiate debut. In a six-minute stint she electrified the crowd with six points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal, then came back onto the floor in the second half for another run and ended up with four more points and three more rebounds.. The 14th player on the roster was far from the only one who had a big day as the No. 1 Gamecocks cruised past Charleston Southern 87-23 in their penultimate game before SEC Play opens.

"I was definitely nervous," Kitts said. "I didn't show it, but I remember when I got there I was like, 'oh my gosh,' and I was like sweating already before I even played. But it's good when you have like a good support system, and all the girls around me are just very supportive. It helped me be less nerous, but I was still nervous."

Aliyah Boston — who was presented with the Honda Cup pre-game honoring her as the nation’s top women’s collegiate basketball player for the year 2022 — secured her 67th career double-double by scoring 10 points and matching her season-high in rebounds with 13. She pulled in five of those rebounds inside the first three minutes with a hot start and is now five double-doubles away from tying the school record.

Zia Cooke continued her hot-scoring pace by dropping in her third consecutive game with at least 16 points, her longest such streak in almost a full calendar year dating back to the first three games of 2022 last season. She knocked down three 3-pointers, including two on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter.

South Carolina (11-0) only allowed one made field goal in each of the first two quarters and forced 15 turnovers to carry on the defense-first performance from Thursday’s win over South Dakota State. It was already 11-0 before Charleston Southern (2-9) finally scored almost six minutes into the action. Boston scored six of those first 11 points, alongside a Cooke 3-pointer and a Brea Beal layup.

Kitts picked her first collegiate point at the free throw line for the final action of the first quarter after drawing a late foul on a rebound, and then added her first made field goal shortly after when fellow freshman Talaysia Cooper gained a steal and set her up in transition for an easy layup. In fact South Carolina spent most of the second quarter with three true freshmen playing together in the same lineup as Ashlyn Watkins anchored Cooper and Kitts inside.

"There haven't been very many opportunities for them to actually just play extended minutes," Staley said. "And you know, it gave them an opportunity to do that and to work on some things. If they're not able to do it in a game, it's kind of hard to do in practice, like really. We preach that, but still when it's a game it's a little bit different than practice."

Some sloppy offense throughout the back half of the second quarter added just a hint of frustration to the afternoon for Staley and her staff. South Carolina turned the ball over five times through the final five minutes of the second quarter all without scoring a point, including two turnovers where Staley was visibly frustrated after players stepped out of bounds with the ball. But minor blip aside, it was a dominant afternoon.

The fourth quarter turned into a party atmosphere, with a little bit of everything. Cooper ended up scoring the highest point-total of her career with 14, Watkins threw down the first home dunk in program history and evean walk-on Olivia Thompson knocked down a late 3-pointer from the right corner.

South Carolina will have one more non-conference game before it jumps into SEC play, coming as a Wednesday matinee against another opponent from the low country when Coastal Carolina travels to Colonial Life Arena.

"I think we're looking really well right now," Cooke said. "I definitely think Chloe is fitting right into the system, and everyone is just growing in their own way and growing in areas that were needed. I think we're pretty good going into SEC play at all. I think we have a lot of pieces to continue to do really well."