South Carolina held Vanderbilt scoreless in the second quarter and got career-highs from Victaria Saxton and Brea Beal in a 106-43 win.

South Carolina led 30-13 after the first quarter and then blew the game open with its second quarter defense. Vanderbilt missed all 16 shot attempts and turned the ball over eight times in the second quarter. It was the second season in a row and second time in program history that South Carolina held an opponent scoreless in a quarter. Ole Miss went scoreless in the first quarter last season, and didn’t score until the final minute of the second quarter, tying an NCAA record for fewest points in a half.

“I was really proud of our team on the defensive side of the ball. We stayed engaged,” Dawn Staley said. “Sometimes you can get yourselves out of defensive position (against Vanderbilt), but I thought our players stayed engaged all night, 98% of the game. We were disruptive, we used our length, our speed, our strength. It was a good game for us to engage ourselves and put another notch in our belt to have some type of identity on the defensive side of the ball.”

Vanderbilt has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic and had just eight available players. In the loaded SEC, Vanderbilt is one of the few easy outs on the schedule. In that respect, South Carolina did what it had to do. Vanderbilt struggles to get stops: South Carolina shot 55%. Vanderbilt doesn’t rebound well: South Carolina outrebounded Vanderbilt 60-28, and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds while allowing just nine for a 20-1 advantage in second chance points. Vanderbilt is not equipped to slow down the fast break: South Carolina had a 41-12 advantage in fast break points. And the short-handed Commodores have no match for South Carolina’s depth: all 11 Gamecocks scored and South Carolina had a 39-6 advantage in bench points.

“No doubt we can get better,” Staley said. “I think we finally are settling in on being able to push the ball and score in transition, so that part is developing quite nicely. It’s in the halfcourt, where I keep saying we have to have a little more fluidity, ball movement, and not take bad shots.”

Saxton and Beal were hot from the start, each hitting double figures in the first quarter. Saxton finished with a career-high 20 points on 9-10 shooting, with her only miss coming on her final shot attempt. Beal tied her career-high with three three-pointers on her way to a career-high 17. Saxton and Beal did their damage in just 21 and 20 minutes respectively.

The lopsided score, along with the hot hands of Saxton and Beal, allowed Dawn Staley to rest players. Destanni Henderson, who is averaging over 32 minutes per game, played just 26, the team-high, but had 12 points, seven rebounds, and tied her career-high with nine assists. Aliyah Boston played a season-low 19 minutes but had nine points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, two assists, and two steals. Zia Cooke had nine points in just 23 minutes.

“We’re adjusting,” Staley said. “We’re trying to figure out what we’re good at and what we’re not good at. We’re bringing it to their attention as a coaching staff to force them, encourage them to play with grittiness.”

Off the bench, Laeticia Amihere added 11 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three steals. LeLe Grissett had seven points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Koi Love had 18 points for Vanderbilt, but 10 came in the fourth quarter after South Carolina had emptied the bench.

Notes:

With the win, Staley has won 142 SEC games, giving her sole possession of the fourth-most SEC wins in history. She broke a tie with her former coach Van Chancellor, and is two behind Gary Blair. … The 63-point margin of victory is the fifth-largest in the Staley era. … Olivia Thompson was the last Gamecock to score, but her three late in the fourth quarter set a new program record for points in an SEC game. The previous record was 102 against Alabama in 2015. … Destiny Littleton had one of her best games of the season. She had a season-high eight points, shot 2-3 from three (she was 1-9 coming in), and had three rebounds and two assists. … South Carolina went unscathed on a wild night in the SEC that saw Georgia win at Tennessee for the first time in 25 years, LSU hand Texas A&M its first loss, and Alabama upset Mississippi State. … South Carolina’s next game is Monday against Arkansas.