BATON ROUGE, Louisiana. – In addition to the rainbow braids tied in a ponytail hanging on the back of South Carolina striker Aliyah Boston’s shirt, there was not much to differentiate the AP preseason All-American from its LSU competitors in most of the first three quarters.
And then, when a hotly contested game entered its final stages, the 6-foot-5 Boston was a powerful presence in both baskets, and a big reason for fourth-place Gamecocks’ winning streak increased to nine games.
“You can’t keep a good player down,” said LSU coach Nikki Fargas. “She will find a way to get to her numbers because she is a competitor.”
Boston scored 11 of his 20 points in the last 14 and a half minutes and picked up 14 rebounds to help South Carolina secure a 69-65 victory over LSU on Sunday.
“She scored enough, hit the ball and made it easy,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said of Boston. “She played great minutes for us and I know she was probably tired.”
Destanni Henderson had 16 points and eight assists, while Zia Cooke had 11 points for South Carolina (12-1, 7-0 SEC), who won his 26th consecutive game against the conference competition.
Khayla Pointer scored 18 and Tiara Young 16 for Lady Tigers (6-7, 4-3), who defeated No. 8 Texas A&M earlier this month and looked set to stage their second loss against a top 10 team in two weeks. , when they took an advantage in the fourth period.
“We are still trying to put together a complete game,” said Pointer. “In this game, we were face to face, right there with SC, one of the best teams in the country, and we just had to find a way to start.
“You can’t be that close in a game like this and then lose in the end, especially on our court,” she added.
LSU had a 45-43 lead in the fourth period after Faustine Aifuwa’s jumper hit the clock at the end of the third period. Awa Trasi’s tray briefly increased the lead to 47-43, before South Carolina gained momentum with a 9-0 streak.
Gamecocks “are not a team that falters, even with mistakes,” said Staley. “They believe in defense. They believe in things they can do well and they believe in themselves. “
The main wave started with the Boston bucket and featured five Henderson points in a 3-point basket and free throws. LeLe Grissett’s quick attack tray crowned the race and made the 52-47 with 7:37 left.
LSU retreated to 56-55 after Young’s jump with 3:41 remaining, but consecutive layouts from the counterattack by Cooke and Grissett started a decisive 10-2 Gamecocks race that included more break-points for Cooke and Grissett.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: While the Gamecocks were in a close contest and lost at the start of the final period against an LSU team that clearly did not fear them, they never wavered long enough to let the game get away from them. Ultimately, their superior talent and ability to perform Staley’s adjustments helped them take control while controlling the final three minutes of the game for their 11th consecutive win in the series.
LSU: The physical presence of 6-5 Aifuwa and 6-1 Trasi on the attack court prevented Boston from taking over the game earlier. The additional defense of LSU’s backcourt showed how Lady Tigers can remain competitive in any game with some of the best-ranked teams in the country – even though they hovered around 0.500 overall this season.
ADJUSTING THE TONE
The combined teams started playing 0 out of 10 on the field before Pointer tied the game at 2, almost three minutes into the first quarter.
The brave, physical and defensive first minutes foreshadowed a tight and competitive first half, during which both teams shot below 34% and neither team led by more than five points.
The Boston layup put Gamecocks on 21-19 at the end of the second quarter.
But LSU equalized on the Trasi tray and regained the lead at 25-23, when Seay stole Cooke’s ball near the middle of the court and converted a quick attack tray with a second left before the break.
TELLING STATISTICS
Gamecocks ended up dominating in two key statistics, surpassing LSU 48-32 in painting and 30-6 in counterattacks.
While Fargas emphasized that “she enjoyed our team’s fight” and expressed hope for the Lady Tigers’ growth this season, she also noted that LSU “was definitely exposed at the end of the game when we weren’t scoring basketball and then they had their transition game going on. ”
NEXT
South Carolina visits Mississippi State No. 19 on Thursday night.
LSU visits No. 22 Georgia on Thursday night.