South Carolina and Georgia meet Sunday in the SEC Tournament Final.

The tournament bracket set up for South Carolina to avenge both its regular season defeats if the games went chalk. South Carolina got Tennessee according to plan, but when Georgia upset Texas A&M Saturday it messed up the plans. After beating Tennessee, Aliyah Boston said there was a little bit of revenge on players’ minds.

“It's exciting because they did beat us in the regular season. Then coming into this game, we knew it was kind of a rematch game, and we wanted to come out on top,” Boston said. “When it comes to Texas A&M, if they were in the championship, we'd have loved to play them again. We're really just focused on Georgia.”

There will be a big difference in experience. South Carolina will be going for its sixth SEC tournament title in seven years, a run of dominance the league has never seen before (not even Tennessee). On the other hand, Georgia has not won the SEC Tournament since 2001, and has not made the final since 2004. The Lady Bulldogs played Vanderbilt both times.

GamecockCentral.com's coverage of women's basketball is brought to you by Post Up Careers, proudly owned and operated by Gamecock fan and GamecockCentral.com member Franklin Buchanan. Did you know that you have about 6 seconds to make an impression on a hiring manager when applying for a job? And that your resume is the marketing piece that you must make sure is up to date, highlights your skills and achievements, and will get you past applicant tracking systems? Post Up Careers can guide you through this process with their customized resume services. For a limited time, GamecockCentral.com subscribers can book a FREE consultation with Franklin to discuss, and 20% off resume and cover letter services, should you choose to book. For your FREE resume review and consultation, go here! https://calendly.com/franklin-postup/gamecockcentral

2. Peaking?

Aliyah Boston said South Carolina probably played its most complete forty minutes against Tennessee. That is debatable, but there were a lot of positives. Especially on offense, Dawn Staley likes the progress she is seeing.

“I think our team is growing and they're learning,” she said. “It took us probably to lose some basketball games, just (seeing) our offense stagnant in some games to really understand what we were trying to accomplish. I take my hat off to our players being able to embrace it and not feel like you're taking the ball out of someone's hands to put in somebody else's, taking touches away from everyone.”

Running the offense through Boston inside is a major part of that. It is the end result of an evolution that took place over the season. It began a month ago with letting Boston operate out of the high post, but that took away her scoring opportunities. Now that she is directing the offense from the low post Boston is a threat to distribute or score.

“She really talked to us about being deliberate, staying on our line, just being strong with whatever we do,” Boston said. “Getting the ball inside was definitely something we worked on. If I didn't have a shot, I was able to kick it back out and we were able to work the offense from there.”

3. The Big Three

Boston, Zia Cooke, and Destanni Henderson have been South Carolina’s three best players all season, but it has been more pronounced in the two tournament games. They have taken 67% (82 of 125) of South Carolina’s shots and scored 71% (101 of 142) of South Carolina’s points.

More balance would be nice, but Staley is willing to ride the hot hands, especially when the shots come in the flow of the offense. That has happened in the first two games.

“At this point we’ve got to win basketball games,” Staley said. “We don't really care where the points are coming from. As long as we can work inside-out and we get reversals. At that point we will create good shots for anybody on our team. But I like the aggressiveness of the three of them because they were very deliberate in the type of shots that they were taking. They didn't make all of them, they didn't shoot a great percentage, but they gave us an opportunity to rebound, they gave us an opportunity to get to the free-throw line.

4. Fast starts

Going into the tournament, Staley wanted the Gamecocks to start faster. She wanted them to jump on opponents early and put pressure on the opponent, instead of feeling that pressure. South Carolina has done that both games, but the follow through has been different. South Carolina let Alabama claw back into the game by relaxing after a dominant start. Tennessee made a couple of pushes, but every time the Lady Vols started to make a run, South Carolina made a big shot to stay in control.

“I'll take the fast start like we have over the past two days in any of our games. You can manage it a little bit better throughout the rest of the game,” Staley said. “I was really happy about our players just hitting big shots. Henny was big, hitting crucial threes down the stretch. Zia was attacking. Aliyah was just as strong.”

5. Scouting the Lady Bulldogs

Georgia is on a tear, having won seven of their last eight and finally getting some overdue respect for how well it has played this season. It’s not surprising that Georgia has advanced to the tournament final by excelling at what it does best: defense, rebounding, and efficient offense. Georgia has gotten hot from three, shooting 52% in its two games and making several clutch shots to hold off Texas A&M Saturday.

But South Carolina is a bad matchup for Georgia. There’s a reason South Carolina has won thirteen straight games against Georgia. Georgia has a chance against South Carolina in the halfcourt, but doesn’t have the speed or athleticism to keep up with South Carolina’s transition game. Center Jenna Staiti has been on a tear down the stretch, but she struggles against Boston. All the Lady Bulldogs struggle against Boston. She had a triple-double when the teams met in January, and is averaging 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 4.7 blocks in just 24.3 minutes in three games against Georgia.

Fatigue will be an issue for both teams, but neither side has a clear edge. Both are playing their third game in three days. Georgia had the early game Saturday, so the Lady Bulldogs got an extra three hours or so of rest. But Georgia’s game went down to the wire, while South Carolina was in control for the entire fourth quarter and was able to conserve a little energy by playing prevent offense.

“It is our medical staff and our conditioning coach,” Staley said Saturday night. “They take over from after the game until we get ready to warm up on the floor. A lot of rest, a lot of cold baths, refueling. Got to get back to the hotel and get some dinner in. We'll probably just get back with our players tomorrow morning to talk about the game plan for beating Georgia tomorrow.”

The Ws

Who: #2 South Carolina vs #4 Georgia

When: Sunday, March 6, 2:00 pm

Where: Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, SC

Watch: ESPN2