South Carolina routed College of Charleston 119-38 to open the season.

Victaria Saxton won the opening tip, Destanni Henderson controlled it and needed just five seconds to get to the rim for the game’s first bucket. South Carolina scored the first 17 points of the game, before a free throw with 3:27 left in the first quarter got College of Charleston on the board.

The Gamecocks would add runs of 13-0 and 8-0 in the second quarter, a mammoth 19-0 run in the third quarter that was followed by an 11-0 run, and then a 13-0 fourth quarter run.

It wasn’t close, in other words.

South Carolina set so many records that they belong in list form:

119 points - most points in a game under Dawn Saley (previous: 111, tied for third most ever)

62 first half points - second most under Staley

81 point win - largest margin of victory under Staley (previous: 80, second largest ever))

73 rebounds - most under Staley (previous: 62, second most ever)

+45 rebounding margin - largest under Staley (previous: 35, second most ever)

42 field goals made - most under Staley (previous: 39)

Four players had double-doubles (Saxton - 19 points, 12 rebounds; Aliyah Boston - 11 points, 12 rebounds; LeLe Grissett - 13 points, 10 rebounds; and Laeticia Amihere - 11 points, 11 rebounds) - The game notes include a game with three double-doubles, but not four, so that could be another record.

South Carolina had 23 offensive rebounds, while College of Charleston had just 28 total and 10 defensive rebounds.

So what did we learn from this game? Probably not as much as we would have liked, since the players weren’t really tested, but Staley disagreed.

“There were a whole lot of things to critique,” she said.

Since there’s no point in describing the game, let’s cover it Q&A style.

What did the rotation look like?

Well…

The starting lineup was Destanni Henderson, Zia Cooke, Breal Beal, Victoria Saxton, and Aliyah Boston. Saxton getting the nod over Amihere was a mild surprise, but we knew it would be one of the two. Staley said it came down to production.

“If you’re competing for a starting position, you’ve got to out-produce whoever you’re competing with, and Victaria did that,” she said.

As far as the rotation, five minutes into the game Staley replaced all five players, so we don’t really know. Individually, Henderson was solid at the point, scoring 11 points to go with six rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Cooke was efficient, scoring 18 points on 6-11 shooting.

How was the point guard play?

The fast break isn’t quite as smooth without Tyasha Harris running it, but it’s still pretty smooth. South Carolina had 43 fast break points, which is pretty good.

“We got killed today on our defensive transition. It was brutal,” College of Charleston’s Robin Harmony said. “We knew that this would happen, but we didn’t think it would be this bad.”

There were also some missteps in the halfcourt, but with both issues I suspect players felt free to try something risky with the game already in hand. LeLe Grissett made some good plays with the ball in her hand, but also had a bad turnover. As a team, South Carolina only had 19 assists, and got more baskets off one-on-one play than it did last year.

“Fluid-wise offensively we had no flow in the first two quarters,” Staley said. “We got a lot more flow in the third and fourth.”

Did Laeticia Amihere live up to the hype?

I’d say not quite, but she had a good game. She had a couple of really nice plays in transition where she showed off her ball-handling skills. But she also committed four fouls and was only 5-9 from the line. She sure looked good leading the break, though, and her career-high 11 rebounds gave her her first career double-double.

Who stood out?

Definitely Eniya Russell. She shot the ball with confidence, got to the rim, drew fouls, and played with a smooth athleticism. She finished with 14 points, four rebounds, and two assists. She was also 1-2 from three. She didn’t look at all like an unheralded freshman.

“I’ve been on Eniya for as long as she’s been here. You see the skill set, you see the court vision,” Staley said. “She’s got to continue to connect days and connect practices, but it does show me that she’s a gamer.”

"I told her practice is the hard part," Cooke said. "She definitely showed who she was."

Anybody struggle?

Destiny Littleton looked like a player who had a couple of major surgeries and hasn’t been on the court in a year. She shot just 1-6 and 0-3 from three. On the bright side, she got to the line and hit 5-6 free throws and tied her career-high with eight rebounds. She is still getting back into game shape, and probably had some butterflies, so I'm not writing her off by any means.

Overall?

It was just good to play basketball.

“We’ve been off the court for a while,” Cooke said. “It was a lot of excitement. I couldn’t sleep for two days.”

“I get back to my phone and I see so many coaches texting and their game got canceled seven hours before it was supposed to start,” Staley said. “We’re just lucky to get one under our belt.”

Notes:

According to the box score, College of Charleston did not record an assist. If that is true and not scoring error, it would obviously be a record for fewest assists in a game. … All eleven Gamecocks scored. Olivia Thompson even made a rare two-point basket. … Elysa Wesolek had two points and a career-high four rebounds. … Cooke had a great answer when asked about Staley complaining the Gamecocks are too nice. "We're nice to each other. She sees that. We're not nice to the other team." … South Carolina blocked 13 shots, led by five from Saxton. … Staley was not happy with the Cougars’ 18 offensive rebounds. … South Carolina’s next game is Saturday against South Dakota, the first of three games in three days.