For the second time since December 6 and for the first time in two full weeks, the South Carolina women’s basketball team will take to the court. Gamecocks (5-1) are scheduled to open the Southeast Conference game on Thursday against Florida at the Colonial Life Arena. The tip is scheduled for 16h and will be transmitted by ESPNU. Here is a look at the conference opening USC Athletics Communications and Public Relations.
ABOUT THIS GAME
Thursday’s game marks the start of South Carolina’s 30th SEC season, during which the Gamecocks are 202-209, including a 138-52 (0.726) mark under Staley.
Gamecocks are 12-17 at all times at SEC openings, including an 8-4 mark under Staley with wins in the last seven openings of the conference. They never started playing in the SEC against Florida.
This is the second consecutive season and the sixth time in the past seven seasons that South Carolina has opened the SEC game at home, winning all six competitions. Gamecocks are 73-22 in the SEC’s domestic games under Staley and 117-89 in those games of all time.
GAMECOCK NOTABLES
South Carolina is the country’s third in rebounds per game (52.0) and rebound margin (+19.2), leading the SEC in both categories. While strikers Aliyah Boston (9.7) and Laeticia Amihere (7.3) lead, hitting the boards is a team effort. Guards LeLe Grissett and Destanni Henderson had more than five rebounds per game – 5.4 and 5.3, respectively. Four different Gamecocks led or shared the team’s lead on the rebound at least once, including two games for Henderson.
One area of concern at the beginning of the season for Gamecocks was their scoring efficiency in painting. Reaching just 45.0 percent in the paint over a three-game stretch, South Carolina went around the top to reach 68.2 percent of the paint in its last two matches (45-66).
Second-year guard Zia Cooke was one of the first Gamecocks to speak to her head coach after the team’s unusual performance against NC State, and the young competitor quickly applied the lessons Staley gave at that time. In both games since then, Cooke has averaged 21.0 points in 60.9 percent of shots (14-23), including 9 of 13 (0.692) in the 3-point range, and distributed 4.0 assists per game. The efficient offensive spurt took her to sixth position in the SEC in scoring (17.7) and 16th in the country by a percentage of 3 points, with the SEC’s best mark of 0.552 this season.
Junior guard Destanni Henderson is growing in his starting role and seems to be finding a balance of points and assists. Tied third in the SEC with 5.0 assists per game, she distributed more than five assists in each of the last three games. His 12.5 points per game is the second of the team, and his ratio of 3.3 assists / turnover is 27th in the country.
BY NUMBERS
4 Gamecocks are 4-0 in games played on New Year’s Eve, including two SEC wins. Three of the four games were at home.
9.5 The freshman Eniya Russell has averaged 9.5 points in the last two games, throwing 53.8 percent of the field.
18.0 South Carolina is in 10th place in the country, with 18.0 offensive rebounds per game. With the SEC’s best performance at 46.0 percent of its missed shots, it averages 17.5 second chance points.
19 sophomore Aliyah Boston needs 19 points to reach 500 in her career.
20.5 Gamecocks have distributed 20.5 assists per game in the last two matches, the two highest marks of the season – 21 in # 23/18 Iowa State, 22 vs. Temple.
27.7 South Carolina’s 27.7 free-throw attempts per game lead the country. His 17.2 free throws per game are in sixth place.