The History
In what has become a yearly tradition, the South Carolina basketball team made it to the women’s college basketball SEC Tournament final. For the ninth time in ten seasons, the Gamecocks began March by making their way to Sunday, but they had only matched up in the title game once with the Tennessee Lady Volunteers (despite being underdogs, South Carolina won big in 2015 for their first tournament championship).
Back in 2015, Tennessee had never gone more than two years without appearing in the final, and South Carolina had never even made it. This time around, though, South Carolina is the premier program in the conference, and Tennessee is the pesky underdog. Head Coach Kellie Harper’s team finished third in the SEC’s regular season standings for the fourth straight season after the Lady Vol program slipped into mediocrity in the post-Pat Summitt years.
In a dominating regular season, the Gamecocks only struggled three times in conference play. One of those challenging games was a matchup in Knoxville against the Volunteers. South Carolina won that contest by 13 points, but Tennessee made the #1 team in the country earn everything that night by holding Dawn Staley’s crew to below their season averages in scoring, rebounding, field goal efficiency, 3-point percentage, and free throw attempts.
The Game
For Sunday’s championship game, the Gamecock starting lineup was a little different than what fans are used to seeing. Kierra Fletcher’s rolled ankle from Saturday’s semifinal game kept her from being able to play. Raven Johnson started in her place at point guard.
Aliyah Boston scored the first two buckets of the game and had a big stop defending Rickea Jackson who came into the game averaging 30 points per game in the SEC Tournament. Boston’s early aggressiveness was needed as a fifth first quarter make for #4 moved the score to 17-13. Brea Beal played well as she scored six points and picked up some of Fletcher’s distributing duties by dishing out five assists in the first period.
Both teams played extremely well offensively in the first seven minutes of the first quarter as the score stood 17-15. Then, the defenses woke up as each team held their opponents to just one made field goal down the stretch until Tennessee’s Jordan Horston hit a buzzer-beater to bring the score to 21-19 in favor of the defending National Champs.
A 21-21 tie was broken by a Zia Cooke fastbreak layup. From there, the Gamecocks went on a 10-0 run before Kellie Harper was forced to call a timeout. The brief break from play was futile, however, as the Gamecocks forced two quick turnovers, and Zia Cooke’s personal scoring run grew to 8 points before the Vols scored again.
Cooke went on to score ten in a row for the Gamecocks, but the Tennessee offense settled in with a run of their own that cut their deficit to six at 37-31 as the second quarter ended. An extremely rare occurrence, the Gamecocks were outrebounded in the first half 15-12. Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, and Aliyah Boston had 30 of their team’s 37 points, and Rickea Jackson and Jordan Horston carried the orange and white underdogs with 21 of their 31 points.
Back-and-forth scoring highlighted the beginning of the second half with Jackson and Boston leading the way for their respective teams. A 9-2 Gamecock run pushed the lead to ten points as the scoreboard read 48-38 with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter.
Kamilla Cardoso got involved in the action in the third period as she scored her first four points and led the defense in a smothering effort that kept Tennessee to just three made shots for the entire quarter. With ten minutes to go before being crowned SEC Tournament champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks led 55-42.
The fourth quarter was a slog. Both teams missed shots, turned the ball over, and had players fall over without cause. Four minutes into the final frame, the score was 59-45, and the Gamecocks could smell a 38th straight victory in the air of the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
The last stretch of the game saw the Gamecocks patiently bleed the game clock. Tennessee scored multiple times, but Dawn Staley’s team always had an answer. The dagger came as Zia Cooke let fly a three-ball that brought her scoring total up to a game-high 24. Up by 17 with two minutes to play, Coach Staley instructed her exhausted point guard Raven Johnson to dribble the clock down to nothing, and the pro-Gamecock crowd in Greenville began celebrating.
A Rickea Jackson jumper and Aliyah Boston layup finished the scoring, and Tennessee willingly dribbled out the clock as the confetti started falling.
SEC Tournament Champions for the seventh time in nine years, the mood on the court was more subdued. The Gamecocks are happy and proud to be SEC Tournament and regular season champs, but they know their pursuit of glory is far from over. A bigger prize is almost within their grasp.
The Pursuit
With the victory, the South Carolina basketball program reached a record of 32-0, but six more games stand between them and history. Sure to be the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Gamecocks will play their first two games of the Tourney at home at Colonial Life Arena before returning to Greenville for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.
Six more victories would grant the best team in the nation a place in women’s basketball history. Only UConn, Tennessee, and Southern Cal have ever repeated as national champions, and only UConn, Tennessee, Texas, and Baylor have gone undefeated through an entire season. Being labeled a dynasty would be on the table and very appropriate.
Congratulations are in order for the South Carolina women’s basketball team, but no one inside the program is celebrating because their work is not yet done. A laser-like focus permeates Dawn Staley’s program as, one way or another, this magical journey will be over soon. Just like in any magical journey, the heroes of this story will stop at nothing to finish their quest victorious.
The Gamecocks will learn of the next steps on their journey on Sunday, March 12th, as the women’s selection show will be broadcast on ESPN and the ESPN App at 8:00.