AUBURN, Alabama (AP) – Zia Cooke scored all 17 points in the first half and Aliyah Boston added 14 points and eight rebounds to lead South Carolina’s No. 2 over Auburn 77-58 on Thursday night.
The Gamecocks (15-1, 10-0 Southeastern Conference) built impressive leadership and achieved a streak of 12 consecutive victories on Monday’s visit to No. 3 Connecticut.
Cooke hit three points out of 3 within 50 seconds of the first quarter, while Gamecocks jumped 26-6 over Tigers (5-12, 0-9). She scored 14 points in the quarter, including a bank bell charge, and they increased the lead to 29 in the interval.
Boston hit 7 of 8 shots for South Carolina, which hit 49.2% of the ground (31 of 63), despite having cooled down considerably in the second half.
Victaria Saxton scored 11 points and Lele Grissett 10 for the Gamecocks. South Carolina hit 18 of the 31 shots (58.1%) before the break.
Honesty Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 15 points. The SEC’s main rebound, Unique Thompson, scored 10 points from 4 of 13 shots and had eight rebounds. Those were eight points and six bags below their season averages.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: Won its 26th consecutive game in the SEC’s regular season, equaling the State of Mississippi for the fifth longest time in league history. He has 11 consecutive wins over the Tigers.
Auburn: It started 2 out of 27 from the floor (7.4%) for the second quarter. finished shooting 23 out of 66 (34.8%). It remains unsuccessful in SEC games and never represents a major challenge in this.
NEXT
South Carolina has that final Monday night clash with UConn, the Gamecocks’ fourth trip in five games.
Auburn hosts Missouri on Sunday in a game that was rescheduled because of COVID-19 problems.
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