Dawn Staley gives a simple answer on how she motivates her team during the holidays

South Carolina women's basketball played one of their final two non-conference games last week and is now currently on a 10-day break before they play their non-conference finale against Wofford just before the new year.

Obviously, the players will get a chance to take a break and celebrate the holidays with their families, but with a game shortly after Christmas, South Carolina will quickly need to turn their focus to Wofford, especially after their latest performance.

The Gamecocks recently took on Charleston Southern in a game that should have been decided by halftime, but instead, South Carolina only held an eight-point lead. Luckily, head coach Dawn Staley's squad pulled it together to close out an 82-46 win, but it certainly came with a lot of questions.

One of those questions was how Staley's squad would stay motivated during the long break before the final non-conference game, and Staley had a very candid answer.

"You threaten them," Staley said.

Staley talked about the mental test that the Charleston Southern game would be, and it almost felt like the Gamecocks failed. However, after some inspired play by freshman Joyce Edwards, who scored a career and team-high 21 points against the Buccaneers, the rest of the team was able to pull it together.

Now, with a long break with a holiday in the middle of it, Staley will be ready to get her team back in the building and focused back up because this last non-conference game is crucial. The Gamecocks need a strong outing against Wofford to give them positive momentum heading into what will be a tough SEC season.

South Carolina was projected to take home the SEC title for the third season in a row in the pre-season predictions, but the SEC is looking tougher than ever this season. With the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC only got stronger when it came to women's basketball, adding even more competition for the Gamecocks.