South Carolina basketball fans can't be surprised that their favorite teams have been getting a lot of love over the past week. Lamont Paris' men's team had one of the best wins in the country with a convincing victory of #6 Kentucky and a win over Missouri, and Paris was named the National Coach of the Week by some outlets. Women's coach Dawn Staley joined Paris with the weekly ESPN honor after her team beat top-10 LSU in Baton Rouge and returned home to knock off a good Vanderbilt squad.
Coach Staley, though, isn't the only member of the women's South Carolina basketball team who was honored for their work last week. On Tuesday, it was announced that post player Kamilla Cardoso was the SEC's Co-Player of the Week. She was also named the United States Basketball Writers Association's National Player of the Week.
Cardoso had a great second half against LSU with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, and 2 clutch assists late in the game. She also was part of a Gamecock frontcourt that held Angel Reese, Aneesah Morrow, and Aalyah Del Rosario to just 10 points and 8 rebounds in the 2nd half. The Gamecocks also fouled out Reese from the game and scored two critical buckets late against Del Rosario.
The Brazilian post player had a big game against Vanderbilt to prevent her team from falling in the dreaded hangover game. She tied her USC career-high with 23 points and added 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in just 24 minutes. Despite a massive rest disparity (Carolina played Thursday on the road before the Sunday game, while Vanderbilt had a full week off before the game), the Gamecocks were never in danger of falling to a good Vanderbilt team.
Kamilla Cardoso and her South Carolina basketball team will play two more times this week, once on the road against Auburn and once at home against Ole Miss.