#1 South Carolina put together another statement win, running past #22 Tennessee for a 69-48 win. The game was physical from the start, but Tennessee had no answer for South Carolina’s speed and athleticism.
Zia Cooke got off to a fast start, and the Gamecocks were outstanding at turning defense into offense. A steal and blocked shot in the final 30 seconds of the first quarter both led to layups, and gave the Gamecocks a 21-9 lead after one. They stretched the lead to 15 at halftime the same way, turning turnovers into points.
Tennessee put together a run to start the third quarter. After ignoring almost all contact during the first half, the officials began calling the game much more closely in the third quarter, and it took South Carolina a while to adjust. Tennessee scored the first six points of the quarter to cut the lead to nine, and kept it to around 12 for much of the quarter.
“We started the third quarter playing with a lot of confidence, made some shots, got some stops, and started feeling pretty good,” Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. “You knew they were going to make a run, we weren’t going to be able to continue that, and we really just kind of ran out of gas.”
When it happened, South Carolina put its foot on the gas. South Carolina knew it was too fast for Tennessee, and began sprinting up the court every time it got the ball. That led to a 9-0 run to finish the third quarter. Destannin Henderson, playing on her birthday, scored seven points during the run, and Victaria Saxton added a pair of free throws. The run gave South Carolina a 20-point lead going into the fourth, and South Carolina basically played keep away for the rest of the game.
“Destanni has been playing great,” Dawn Staley said. “She’s been aggressive when she has the ball in her hands and she was that today. She scored some, she dished to some post players. She’s playing some of her better basketball right now and we’ve got to keep it going.”
Henderson finished with 12 points and was aggressive in looking for her shot. Mikiah Herbert Harrigan added nine points and eight rebounds, and made clutch shots and physical plays. But the star was Cooke. She was salty, reminding defenders when she made tough shots over them, but she got started playing a little too fast in the third quarter. Staley sat her down, told her to slow down, and Cooke responded with a couple of fourth quarter threes. She finished with 20 points, made 4-8 threes, and played aggressive defense.
“I just tried to slow down,” Cooke said. “I was starting to go a little too fast. Coach took me out for a breather and to slow down and rethink some things. Once I did that everything fell right back into place.”
Tennessee’s zone was effective at limiting Aliyah Boston in the first half, but in the third quarter, South Carolina made a point of getting the ball inside to Boston. It was a struggle at first, but after a couple of discussions between Staley and the officials, Boston started getting foul calls. She had 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks late in the third quarter when she came down awkwardly and hobbled straight to the locker room. Boston returned to the bench to start the fourth quarter, but with a 20-point lead in hand, she did not return to the game. Staley wasn’t sure exactly what the injury was, but said that Boston was available to return, and “if it was a national championship game she would have come back in.”
Tennessee’s Rennia Davis had 18 points and ten rebounds, but like star players like Rhyen Howard and Chelsea Dungee before her, the numbers didn’t come easily. Brea Beal led a fantastic team defensive effort and Davis shot just 7-17, including 0-3 from three, with four turnovers. Meanwhile, nobody else picked up the slack, with nobody in double figures.
“They were just being aggressive defensively,” Harper said. “They weren’t allowing easy passes and they were putting pretty good ball pressure. We were a little spastic in the first quarter in our offense and turned it over too much to stay in the game with them.”
The Gamecocks held the Lady Vols to 35 percent shooting while shooting 38 percent, but the Gamecock defense really made its mark with turnovers. The Gamecocks scored 28 points off 21 turnovers (11 steals), while only giving up six points off of six turnovers. The Gamecocks had an 18-4 advantage in fast break points, and also outrebounded the Lady Vols by two in a battle of the SEC’s best rebounding teams, and two of the best in the country.
“It was huge for us to speed the game up,” Staley said. “It allowed our guards to get up and down the floor. We did a really good job at disrupting and forcing them to play a little bit quicker than they wanted to play.”
South Carolina has now won three straight over Tennessee, tying the longest losing stretch in the series (the Gamecocks beat the Lady Vols three times from 2015-16). The 21-point margin of victory is the largest ever by South Carolina over Tennessee, topping the 62-46 win in the SEC tournament final in 2015.
Notes:
South Carolina played without freshman Laeticia Amihere, who was in Belgium with Team Canada for the Olympic qualifying tournament. Amihere will also miss Thursday's game at Arkansas and probably the UConn game. … South Carolina wore warmup shirts with Kobe Bryant’s name and number on the back and a picture on the front. They wore the same shirts Thursday at Ole Miss. There was also a moment of silence for Bryant and the victims of the helicopter crash, noting his support for women’s basketball. … Sunday was Destanni Henderson’s birthday. … Former player Kaela Davis was in attendance for the game. … South Carolina was able to empty the bench, putting in Olivia Thompson and Elysa Wesolek. Wesolek scored the game’s final points on a reverse layup. … Staley is rooting for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl in support of former Eagles coach Andy Reid. … Announced attendance was 13,735, highest of the season. … South Carolina’s next game is Thursday at Arkansas.
