After more than a week off during final exams, South Carolina women's basketball showed no signs of rust.
The No. 1 ranked Gamecocks returned to Colonial Life Arena and kept their undefeated start to the season going with an 88-39
win over the Liberty Flames in the final outing of their four-game homestand.
Across the four games South Carolina outscored its opponents 325-195 for an average margin of victory of 32.5 points and have now won 30 consecutive home games dating back to 2020.
Zia Cooke carried the offense with 20 points, the highest total for any individual player in a game this season and her highest personal total since the win over Auburn on Feb. 17 of last season. Aliyah Boston celebrated her 21st birthday by picking up 13 points and six rebounds in just 22 minutes of work.
"Zia's been playing great," Dawn Staley said. "I'm happy that she got shots to fall. She's efficient with it. She's not taking bad shots, they're just not going in. But tonight they went in. And I'm hoping that she'll link up the days. She's playing great, like a senior. She knows what's going on, we're playing her at multiple positions, we're trying to give her different looks out there on the floor and she's embracing it."
After going a combined 2-of-20 on 3-point attempts in wins over UCLA and Memphis before the week off, the Gamecocks knocked down six shots from beyond the arc to reach their highest total since the win at Clemson nearly a month ago. Cooke, Brea Beal, Talaysia Cooper and Bree Hall all knocked at least one down marking just the third time on the season four different players have hit a 3-pointer.
South Carolina (9-0) established early control with a 10-2 run in the first quarter keyed by the second unit after Staley went with a full line change at the first media timeout. The score was 12-9 when the bench hit the floor for the first time, and in a blink the lead rose into double-digits. Cooper knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing and scored a quick five points with her usual burst of energy.
"We've been working that unit all week trying to get them to be a pressing unit for us," Staley said. "I wanted to see what they looked like in a game situation, and obviously they gave us a really good opportunity to learn from a film standpoint. But it wasn't bad. I liked the energy, I liked the effort, we've just got to know how to transition out from it."
Liberty (3-5) created a few problems on the defensive end in the first half behind strong offensive games from Mya Berkman and Jordan Bailey with 27 combined points, but its own inability to hit outside shots prevented the momentum from continuing. The Flames finished 0-of-12 from 3-point range and just 27.3 percent from the floor overall in what ended up being one of South Carolina’s most stifling defensive performances of the year so far.
If there was any doubt about the outcome with a 42-22 lead at halftime, a quick 11-0 run out of the locker room removed all of it. Liberty only knocked down one shot from the floor throughout the third quarter after missing its first 12 attempts and relegated the fourth quarter to garbage time in which all five of South Carolina’s starters were able to take the entire frame off.
One brief note on the injury front occurred late in the first half when Sania Feagin left the game with a trainer and went straight to the locker room after taking a hit in the paint. She returned to the floor with the team after halftime and scored 12 of her 14 points in 10 minutes of post-injury action.
"I think in practice coach challenged here to do certain stuff and I think tonight she came out and she did that," Boston said. "She ran the floor really well, she finished her shots and was just a pretty great teammate."
Up next will be the second cross-country trip of the season with a battle against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Thursday night in Sioux Falls.
