No. 7 SC captures SEC title

GREENVILLE, SC – South Carolina made history on Sunday, as did the SEC, with the first championship fight featuring black coaches at Gamecocks’ Dawn Staley and Georgia’s Joni Taylor.

“What you saw gives hope to black women,” said Staley proudly.

It was the Gamecocks of Staley who used a late race in the third quarter to take control and held on to win the 16th Bulldogs ranked 67-62 – continuing their unprecedented streak of six SEC tournament titles in seven seasons.

Taylor was disappointed with the result, not with the statement made by the two women leaders. She remembers, as a high school star in Mississippi, that she never saw two black head coaches in a Power Five conference title game. Taylor is grateful that young people have a different image going forward.

“You cannot dream of what you cannot see,” said Taylor, in his sixth season in Georgia.

Aliyah Boston had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead South Carolina, which just a week ago lost second place in Texas A&M and saw the Aggies cut nets in celebration of the SEC’s regular season title.

This time it was the Gamecocks, as they did in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and now, going up the stairs amid the purple, white and yellow streamers and confetti to celebrate.

“We knew we didn’t want to lose,” said Boston, the tournament’s MVP with three double-double appearances.

Gamecocks (22-4), twice the country’s number one team this season, have struggled down, with three defeats in their last seven games.

South Carolina fixed things up in style at the SEC tournament. She used big runs at the start of the race to eliminate Alabama on Friday and Tennessee’s number 14 on Saturday night to advance. This time, Gamecocks opened a tie with a 9-0 run to close the third period.

The Bulldogs closed to 65-62 on Que Morrison’s three points with 14.4 seconds remaining. Then Boston made two free throws and South Carolina secured its 14th consecutive victory over Georgia.

This Gamecock streak included eliminating the Bulldogs from four of the last five tournaments.

Morrison scored 20 points to lead Georgia.

Boston, which received tournament MVP honors, ended with its third consecutive double-double tournament. She added four blocks.

Henderson had 18 points for South Carolina.

Georgia’s firing range and defense kept South Carolina under control.

The Bulldogs found their own hot kicks – they hit nine out of 15 kicks – for a 23-17 lead after a quarter.

But when Jenna Staiti suffered her second foul at the end of the first quarter, South Carolina found Boston down. Boston scored eight of his 14 points in the first half of the period, while the Gamecocks erased Georgia’s deficit.

It looked like the Bulldogs would take the lead at halftime before Cooke held on for a final shot and drained a three-pointer when the time ran out to send the game into the break at 35.

Georgia reached its first tournament final since 2004 with a victory over number 17 in Kentucky on Friday and a comeback from first place and number 2 in Texas A&M, where they recovered by five points less in the second half.

Staiti was upset about the defeat, but hopes the team will regroup. “It hurts,” she said. “It is not the way we want it to fall. But we can put that in perspective with any team in the country.”