South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks roll to SEC Tournament semifinals after defeating Texas A&M Aggies

South Carolina Basketball vs. Texas A&M Aggies
Stats, Scoring, and Observations

South Carolina basketball played a sloppy game but still handled the Texas A&M Aggies in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, winning 79-68.

Here are the stats from the game:

STATS

Texas A&M

Points

Leader: Aicha Coulibaly with 32

Rebounds

Leader: Lauren Ware with 7

Assists

Leader: Endyia Rogers with 4

Steals

Leader: Aicha Coulibaly with 3

Blocks

Leader: Lauren Ware with 2

Team

The Aggies shot 36.5%/30%72.7% and had 14 turnovers

South Carolina

Points

Leader: Kamilla Cardoso with 17

Rebounds

Leader: Three players each with 6

Assists

Leader: Raven Johnson with 5

Steals

Leader: Bree Hall with 1

Blocks

Leader: Three players each with 1

Team

The Gamecocks shot 51.8%/50%/77.3% and had 24 turnovers

BOX SCORE

OBSERVATIONS

• Starters: Raven Johnson-Te-Hina Paopao-Bree Hall-Chloe Kitts-Kamilla Cardoso
• The Gamecocks hadn't played with their traditional starting lineup much lately due to a number of factors, but they were back with the primary starting 5 on Friday.
• The 1st half was incredibly sloppy from South Carolina. USC had 15 turnovers, shot 5-13 at the rim, and had two post players in foul trouble (Chloe Kitts and Sania Feagin).
• A Tessa Johnson stretch was a major difference in the 1st half as she scored 7 points (4 free throws and a 3-pointer) and had a big block in about a 2 1/2 minute stretch.
• Both teams played strong defense early, but the turnovers (25 combined) were mostly caused by bad offense rather than good defense.
• The Gamecocks' defense was so lock-down that they only scored 9 points in the opening 20 minutes from traditional offense. Of their 22 total points in the 1st half, 13 came from 2nd chance opportunities, off of turnovers, or on fast breaks.
• Chloe Kitts missed a lot of the 1st half with foul trouble but started off the 2nd half with USC's first two buckets.
• Janiah Barker was causing problems for Carolina in the 3rd quarter, but she picked up her 3rd and 4th foul and had to come out of the game.
• Kamilla Cardoso's strong 2nd half kept the Aggies from being able to mount a comeback.