South Carolina women set an SEC record in this key statistic entering Final Four

The No. 1 seeded South Carolina Gamecocks are back in the Final Four for a sixth straight season in a row. It's an impressive feat from head coach Dawn Staley, as the Gamecocks will take on the No. 1 overall seeded UConn Huskies in the Final Four. 

Through the first four games of the tournament, the Gamecocks' offense is averaging 94 points per game, putting up over 100 in games vs. No. 16 Southern and No. 9 USC. South Carolina scored 94 against No. 4 Oklahoma, and was held to its lowest point output, 78 points, against No. 3 TCU. But that wasn't too surprising, as the Horned Frogs entered with a top-20 scoring defense in the country ahead of the Elite Eight matchup. 

With South Carolina's 78-52 victory over TCU, the Gamecocks have outscored their opponents by 161 points. According to the SEC, it's the largest point differential (+161) entering the Final Four in SEC history: 

The Gamecocks have been led by several key players offensively through its first four games, which makes this stat even more impressive. Against No. 16 Southern, South Carolina's 69-point victory was a school record margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament. Joyce Edwards led the way with 27 points, as Ta'Niya Latson added 17, and Madina Okot had 15. 

In the second round against No. 9 USC, Edwards was once again the leader with 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Okot notched her 22nd double-double of the year, getting 15 points with another 15 boards. Freshman Agot Makeer added another 15 points in the victory.   

In the Sweet 16 against Oklahoma, it was Latson who had 28 points, scoring eight of the Gamecocks' first 10 points during South Carolina's opening 10-0 run.  Johnson added another 18 points to power the Gamecocks to a 94-68 victory. It also marked the first time in school history that South Carolina had scored 90 points or more in each of its first three NCAA Tournament games. 

Against TCU in the Elite Eight, it was the toughest defense South Carolina had faced yet. In fact, the Gamecocks trailed 22-18 early in the second quarter. But Edwards and Makeer took the game into their own hands. The former scored 24 points, as Makeer finished with another 18. Edwards added 12 rebounds and three blocks on the night, too. 

TCU cut South Carolina's deficit to eight late in the third quarter, but the Gamecocks scored 29 points in the fourth to put the Horned Frogs away. 

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"We just came out the fourth quarter and we knew that before we got to the five-minute mark we wanted to be up by 20," Edwards said after the game. Ta'Niya literally said that in the huddle: Before we got to the five-minute mark in the fourth quarter we will be up by 20.

And that's what we did. I feel like our defense got more intense. And defense turned into offense, and we were able to get some transition buckets. And it just went up from there."

South Carolina will have an uphill battle going up against UConn in the Final Four. The Huskies lead the nation in both field goal percentage defense and scoring defense, giving up just 50.1 points per game. 

But for now, the Gamecocks can relish in the fact that their point differential is making SEC history.