WBB: Decade of Dominance

The last decade has been pretty good for the Gamecocks. Take a trip down memory lane with some of the games, people, and moments that defined the last ten years.

With apologies to to Sheila Foster and the great teams of the early 80s, the last decade has been the most successful in program history, and arguably the most successful by any program ever at South Carolina.

The Games

South Carolina 72, Purdue 61 - March 19, 2012

Led by La’Keisha Sutton, Dawn Staley’s first NCAA Tournament team flew under the radar all season, despite winning 20 games and going 10-6 in the SEC. The Gamecocks announced their arrival on the national stage when they cruised to the Sweet 16 by handling Purdue on its home court. They were beaten easily by Stanford in the next round, a game where Staley said the Gamecocks weren’t out-played, they were out-talented, something that wouldn’t happen too many more times.

#4 South Carolina 67, Georgia 56 - February 27, 2014

South Carolina clinched its first-ever SEC Championship in front of a record crowd. That team peaked in this game, and bowed out early in the SEC and NCAA tournaments. It took longer than she probably expected, but Staley had topped the SEC mountain. Next up was the rest of the country.

#1 South Carolina 51, #9 Duke 50 - December 7, 2014

This was the game when South Carolina basketball became something special. Busloads of Gamecock fans took over hallowed Cameron Indoor Stadium, filling the stands with garnet and black. Tiffany Mitchell nailed a three to pull the Gamecocks within a point with less than 30 second left. Then little-used Olivia Gaines stole the ball and called a timeout. Mitchell missed a runner, but A’ja Wilson tipped it in with 1.8 seconds left for the win. After the buzzer, several of us media boys looked at each other in disbelief and said, “They might have something this year.”

#1 South Carolina 77, Auburn 58 - January 2, 2015

I don’t remember much about the game itself, but that’s not why it’s on the list. 16,465 people attended that game, at the time the second-most to ever see a women’s basketball game in the state of South Carolina. It also began a streak that saw announced attendance of at least 10,000 for every regular season home game that is five years and 73 games and counting. It’s an open secret that South Carolina massages ticket sales to make sure they hit 10,000, but so does everybody else in the country, and only South Carolina tops 10,000.

South Carolina 67, North Carolina 65, South Carolina 80, Florida State 74 - 2015 NCAA Tournament

It wasn’t easy for South Carolina to reach its first Final Four. The Gamecocks needed come from behind wins over North Carolina and Florida State to get there, and they got key plays from unlikely sources to do it. Gaines, who rarely shot the ball, made a baseline jumper to tie North Carolina at 65, and then Mitchell drove and hit the game-winner. Two days later, South Carolina fell behind by ten early and had to battle back. To tie the game with 2:30 left. Mitchell scored seven straight to put South Carolina ahead, and then Asia Dozier, who had attempted just nine free throws all season, sank four straight to seal the win.

#7 South Carolina 80, Texas A&M 64 - February 23, 2017

This was the game that changed the course of the season. Alaina Coates was injured. All Mississippi State had to do was beat Kentucky to break South Carolina’s reign over the SEC. But Kentucky upset Mississippi State and in a desperation move/stroke of genius, Staley put Bianca Cuevas-Moore into the starting lineup. Replacing Coates with Cuevas-Moore made South Carolina small but quick, able to pressure opponents and surround A’ja Wilson with four shooters. It sparked South Carolina to a win, and then to a sweep of the regular season, tournament, and national championships.

South Carolina 67, Mississippi State 55 - 2017 National Championship Game

South Carolina’s first national championship was almost anti-climactic. South Carolina was riding a ten-game winning streak in the series and had the Bulldogs’ number (I almost listed Mississippi State’s win over UConn in the semifinals as one of the most important games, because South Carolina might not have beaten the Huskies, but there was no chance they’d lose to the Bulldogs). Aj’a Wilson did A’ja Wilson things, Allisha Gray did her thing, and the Gamecocks pulled away in the fourth quarter, just like they always seemed to do against Mississippi State.

#8 South Carolina 63, #4 Maryland 54 - November 10, 2019*

*This game felt like the 2014 Duke game: a tough road win over an established program that served as a springboard to a big season. It also exorcized some demons from the year before. Where the season goes remains to be seen, so it gets an asterisk for “Incomplete,” but this game raised the ceiling.

The People

Dawn Staley

Obviously. When Staley was hired by Eric Hyman, some complained about the price tag, but she’s been worth every penny. She’s won and done it with class. She’s now the head coach of Team USA. She’s made an impact in the community. I’d argue she’s the most powerful woman in the state, and I’m convinced that if she wanted to run for office, she would have her choice of positions.

La’Keisha Sutton

The first great player of the decade, Sutton is too often overlooked in light of the players that followed her. She was undersized, and wasn’t the most talented player, but she led the first NCAA Tournament team to the Sweet 16 by sheer force of will. Sutton was known as “Fan Favorite” then. Now she is “Swish,” a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Aleighsa Welch

Her name was a test of your Gamecock knowledge. Staley’s first big in-state recruit, casual fans often mispronounced her name ”Aleigh-sha.” Die-hards called her “Muffin,” a nickname that belied her fierce competitiveness. Like Sutton, she wasn’t the biggest or the most talented, but nobody wanted to win more than she did, and she won a lot. She was the linchpin of the 2015 Final Four team.

Tiffany Mitchell

The first elite player of the decade, the stoic Mitchell was easy to overlook. She overlapped with Welch and Wilson, and those teams had a lot of big personalities. Mitchell was fine being the quiet one. About the only way to get her to talk in press conferences was to ask her about Eli, the stuffed bear that she and Wilson brought to every press conference. But she was also a two-time SEC Player of the Year, a three-time All-American, and the best player on the 2015 Final Four team.

A’ja Wilson

The best player in program history. The hometown girl. Soon to be seen in statue form. She rewrote the record books and led South Carolina to the promised land. Like Staley, she has been a star off the court as well. Wilson’s thoughtful outspokenness about gender equality and support of those with learning disabilities has made her more than just a basketball player. She might be the second most powerful woman in South Carolina.

The Records

Attendance

Let’s take a trip in the wayback machine to 2014. Things were very different then. The Gamecocks were still outside the basketball elite, and even among Gamecock fans women’s basketball was barely a blip on the radar. They had to claw their way into the top ten on the way to their first SEC championship. Prior to the season, the Gamecocks launched an ambitious “Drive for 5” campaign to raise attendance 25 percent and average 5,000 fans per game. To everyone’s surprise, they easily accomplished it. Visiting teams were impressed by the rowdy, knowledgeable, and large (in those days) crowds of 5,000 or so people.

And then some hotshot local recruit named after an old Steely Dan album took her official visit on February 2, 2014 against Missouri. The #7 Gamecocks handed out bright yellow t-shirts that said “no place like home,” a phrase that made no sense unless you knew Wilson was there, and everyone knew she was there. I remember sitting courtside as the fans started coming in. And they just kept coming, until the lower bowl was full and yellow shirts sprinkled the upper deck, something that only ever happened against Tennessee or on $1 ticket days.

Attendance for that game was 7,828. Then something weird happened. They came back for the next game against Arkansas, when attendance was 7,545. It was two weeks before the next home game, and on the heels of an eight game winning streak, South Carolina was hosting Florida with a chance to clinch a share of the SEC championship. 10,547 people, the second-biggest crowd ever (behind only the first game at Colonial Life Arena), attended. Those were all Sunday afternoon games. Surely the crowd for the next game, Thursday night against Georgia, would go back to normal. Instead, 12,458 turned up to see the Gamecocks receive their SEC championship trophy and finish off an undefeated season at home. In the process, South Carolina had become the new standard-bearer for fan support and provided the blueprint for fan engagement across the sport. At the beginning of the decade, South Carolina was averaging around 3,000 fans per game. Now, it averages four times that and sells over 10,000 season tickets, with a sellout every season since 2016.

Besides Tennessee

At the beginning of the decade, SEC records were often divided into two categories: including Tennessee and besides Tennessee. The Lady Vols’ dominance was so complete that there was no point in comparing them to the other 11 teams. As we go into 2020, South Carolina, more than any other team, has wrested away control of the SEC.

A’ja Wilson is the only three-time SEC player of the year, and Wilson and Tiffany Mitchell combined to win the award five straight years. No team had ever won more than two in a row, including Tennessee. Tennessee never won more than three SEC tournaments in a row. South Carolina won four. South Carolina has become the model for program building across the conference. It’s no longer Tennessee that drives attendance numbers, it’s South Carolina. That’s why the SEC Tournament is in Greenville, and as I have mentioned before, for all the (deserved) recognition Mississippi State gets for its attendance numbers, South Carolina sells more season tickets that Humphrey Coliseum’s capacity (10,575).