South Carolina’s women’s basketball players and coaches received their 2022 National Championship rings, watched a new banner commemorating the title go up into the rafters of Colonial Life Arena and immediately went to work on making it happen again.
The No. 1 Gamecocks crushed East Tennessee State 101-31 in their season opener, keyed by a 31-1 run through the final seven minutes of the first quarter and early stages of the second quarter.
Zia Cooke led the team in scoring with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 12 out of the 13 players on the roster appeared on the court. The only South Carolina player who did not dress was Bree Hall, who the team said before the game was out with an illness.
"It's definitely a special moment," Cooke said about receiving the rings before the game. "Moments like this show how special it is. Sometimes you might not realize what you have in front of you until it's right in front of you. Being able to see those rings in our hands and everybody's reaction to it, it gave us the motivation to go out there and play."
And once they started playing, it was business as usual for Dawn Staley’s team, putting the game out of reach before the first quarter buzzer sounded. It happened with one of their trademark scoring avalanches, stacking one possession on top of another, getting out in transition and burying an opponent in a hurry.
Reigning National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston started her season out in typical fashion by posting another double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in only 20 minutes of action.
On the other end of the experience spectrum, all three freshmen in the program made their collegiate debuts against the Buccaneers and showed impressive flashes. Raven Johnson started the game at point guard and played 17 minutes, bringing the ball up the court on most possessions she was out there. Johnson scored 17 points and ended with a team highs in both assists and steals, showing command of the position right from the day one in Columbia.
"She's a young point guard that has a great feel for the game," Staley said. "You can tell, there's certain things she does that are seamless. I mean she can pass the ball; she puts the ball where they should have it instead of where they want it. I thought she put Zia in a position where Zia wasn't stopping at the 3-point line, she made her drive to the basket. Those are just some of the little nuances that Raven brings to the table."
Talaysia Cooper and Ashlyn Watkins also each played double-digit minutes respectively, combining for 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Sania Feagin was the star of the night from a shooting perspective, knocking down seven of her nine attempts from the floor. South Carolina as a team made more than half of its shots from the field, knocking down 52.9 percent of its shots.
Six different Gamecocks scored in double figures, and they were just as active on the defensive end. South Carolina forced 22 turnovers with 12 in the first half and 10 in the second, scoring 28 points off turnovers and 37 fastbreak points.
And with nine seconds remaining, Laeticia Amihere put the exclamation point on the evening with a driving layup for the final bucket of the game. Despite winning the National Championship last season South Carolina never broke the century mark in the scoreboard, but Amihere's bucket took care of that after just one game.
South Carolina is expected to face a much stiffer challenge in its second game of the season, a road game at No. 17 Maryland on Friday night scheduled for a 6 p.m tip-off.
"It's hard to gauge exactly where we are," Staley said. "Except you have instances tonight where we were able to play abll screens a little differently each quarter, and see us be able to switch and play. We haven't really worked that a lot where we're just swtching everything, but I thought we did a really good job of that."
Want to talk about Gamecocks before their big game at Maryland, or have a question about the East Tennessee State game? Join us on the Insider's Forum for live threads, tidbits, and a platform for you to shine your Gamecock football knowledge.
