South Carolina beat Alabama 75-63 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
Dawn Staley wanted to see a fast start and deliberate offense Friday. For fifteen minutes, she got it. South Carolina raced out to a 12-0 lead five minutes into the game, making 5-6 shots while Alabama had more turnovers (five) than shot attempts (four, all misses).
By the five minute mark of the second quarter, South Carolina led 39-12. The Gamecocks were shooting 16-27 from the floor, 4-6 from three, with just four turnovers. They had 14 points off nine Crimson Tide turnovers and were holding them to 6-23 shooting. The offense was flowing through Aliyah Boston, who was creating open looks for Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke.
And then things went sideways. Staley put in the second unit, and without Boston, Cooke, and Henderson, the offense stagnated. Defensively, the Gamecocks relaxed, and stopped getting easy baskets off turnovers. Jordan Lewis and Jasmine Walker were left open for threes, and then Hannah Barber hit another three before halftime to give Alabama a 14-3 run over the final 4:47, holding South Carolina without a field goal during the span.
“The shots that were falling in the first fifteen minutes of the game weren’t falling for us,” Staley said. “We missed layups.”
Alabama began the third quarter with another three from Lewis, but South Carolina did just enough to maintain a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter.
“We got relaxed a little bit. Lewis got off a lot,” Cooke said. “She started to figure out what she could do. We had to pick it up on defense.”
Lewis, who scored 25 points, hit a three in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to ten. Ariyah Copeland made a couple of baskets around a Henderson free throw to cut the lead to seven, the closest Alabama got.
“It was Alabama. Y’all have to try guarding (them),” Staley said. “They space the floor and pick you apart. We did the best we could.”
LeLe Grissett missed a short jumper, but Victaria Saxton got the rebound. South Carolina worked the ball to Cooke, who attacked and then kicked to Henderson, who was wide-open for three.
“It definitely was a momentum shift,” Cooke said. “It was in flow. I knew she would be right there for the shot, and we’ve been working on one more shot.”
South Carolina got a stop and Cooke scored in transition to push the lead back to 12. Kristy Curry called a timeout, but South Carolina was back in control with four minutes to play. After Copeland cut it to seven, South Carolina held Alabama without a field over the final five minutes.
“We got smaller,” Staley said. “We inserted LeLe into the basketball game because we can switch a lot more and a lot better with that lineup. What I was really proud of was our ability to guard Jasmine Walker.”
Walker, who averages over 19 points per game, scored just nine on 4-12 shooting. Copeland scored 17, and Alabama shot 42% for the game.
Cooke finished with 22 points on 9-17 shooting, while Henderson had 18 on 7-10 shooting and went 3-3 from three. But Boston was the centerpiece. She scored 16 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and had three steals. Boston only had two assists, but she often made the pass that led to the assist. Alabama also had a guard cheat toward Boston for a quick double team, and Boston was able to create open shots simply by moving that guard too far away to recover. South Carolina shot 48% and 5-11 from three, and 10-13 from the free throw line.
Notes:
The PA announcer continuously called Destiny Littleton “Littlejohn,” before finally correcting herself in the third quarter. … South Carolina outrebounded Alabama by seven. … South Carolina got 24 points off 19 turnovers, while only giving up six points off its 12 turnovers. … South Carolina advances to play the winner of the Tennessee-Ole Miss game at approximately 6:30 Saturday (25 minutes following the conclusion of the first game).
