South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks use big second half to fight off Bulls and advance to Sweet 16

The best team in South Florida Bulls history came to Columbia to take on the South Carolina basketball team in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After beating Marquette in an overtime classic in round 1, the Bulls came in confident and gave the Gamecocks their best shot.

An ugly start for both teams saw no scoring and four turnovers through almost two minutes of game action. Aliyah Boston stopped the drought with a midrange bucket (after getting shoved hard in the back with no call). After that, the shots started falling for both teams. Elena Tsineke carried the Bulls’ offense early by scoring 7 of the Bulls’ first 10 points. Sammie Puisis came into the game second in the country in made three-pointers and added one to her total in the first half.

An early deficit for Carolina was erased when Victaria Saxton made one of the best high-effort plays of the season. Saxton sprinted back in transition, blocked a South Florida layup, and saved the ball from going out of bounds with a diving effort. The ball ended up in Kierra Fletcher’s hands, and the senior point guard drove the length of the floor for an and-one conversion that got the Gamecock FAMs going in Colonial Life Arena.

Fletcher missed the free throw, and all the momentum built up from the play disappeared. A very un-Gamecock stretch of play followed, and the Bulls capitalized to take a 16-12 lead into the second quarter. AAC Player of the Year Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu was held scoreless, but it didn’t matter as the Bulls were outplaying the Gamecocks anyway. Zia Cooke and Laeticia Amihere were playing aggressively but did not see the ball go through the hoop.

The second quarter saw South Carolina’s fortunes turn. Excellent bench minutes from Raven Johnson and Bree Hall gave some life to the Gamecock offense. South Carolina’s perimeter defenders also were heavily-shading South Florida’s ballhandlers to one side, daring them to use their non-dominant hands. The switches paid dividends on offense as some shots started to fall in the second period and on defense as the Bulls couldn’t get anything going. A 23-20 lead belonged to Carolina at the midway media timeout.

“Feed the post” became the offensive strategy after the timeout. Boston was given two straight entry passes, then Victaria Saxton scored 4 straight points. In all, the two Gamecock bigs scored 8 straight for their team and started owning the paint in the rebounding game. As the first half came to a close, Boston and Saxton combined for 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks. A small run to end the half resulted in South Florida cutting into the lead, making the score 33-29. Elena Tsineke and Sammie Puisis kept their team in the game with 21 points on 9-17 shooting.

Both teams came out of the third quarter gates slowly, but the Gamecocks’ talent advantage started to make itself apparent.  A 13-2 South Carolina run was sparked after Tsineke and Cooke started going at it. The two lead guards traded buckets and taunts (Tsineke gave Cooke the “too small” and “rock the baby” after scoring; Cooke literally waved her off when she answered). Cooke brought her scoring total up to 13 with a nice layup off an even better outlet pass from Aliyah Boston. That total jumped to 18 in less than a minute and a half of game time.

Cooke handled much of the scoring, but Boston and Saxton were dominating the game. At the end of the third quarter, the starting post players had combined for 13 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 blocks. On Saxton’s fourth, the Gamecocks set a new SEC record for blocks in a season. Kamilla Cardoso gave Saxton a breather and immediately added two more blocks. Bree Hall’s energy to end the period pushed the Carolina lead all the way to 52-36.

An eight-minute South Florida scoring drought spanned the end of the third quarter and halfway through the fourth. The Gamecocks added just 6 points during the early stages of the final period but went on another run after a Bull shot finally dropped. In the final moments, fan-favorite Olivia Thompson hit a deep three that sent her teammates into a frenzy. On the other end of the court, Jose Fernandez’s squad was held to single digits for the second straight quarter.

Very similarly to the first round against Norfolk State, South Carolina dominated the boards in the second half, and the rebounding efforts changed the whole game. After the first half, the numbers of the glass were pretty close, but the Gamecocks finished with a 53-28 advantage in rebounding. Aliyah Boston’s 81st career double-double and Zia Cooke’s 21 points led their team to a dominant victory.

A 40th-straight win brings the Carolina senior class of Boston, Cooke, Beal, Amihere, and Thompson to 126-8. Now, with two steps down, the Gamecocks are on to Greenville where they will play in the Sweet Sixteen against the winner of UCLA and Oklahoma.

Box Score.