COLOMBIA – They won the game, a 13-4 streak in the third quarter that led South Carolina’s first place to a 77-62 women’s basketball decision over Missouri on Thursday.
The uncomfortable feeling that lasted from Monday’s loss to Connecticut, a game that the USC wasted much more than UConn, and the difficult first half of Thursday?
They are working on it.
The Gamecocks failed to get into the rhythm early against the Tigers, even with Missouri scorers LaDazhia Williams (a former Gamecock) and Aijha Blackwell in trouble all night. His attack remained chained and he accepted the Tigers’ boldness to ignore the center of the Aliyah Boston wrecking ball and shoot from the side, while his defense was rotten than milk left out.
“I don’t think we were tired, I think we faced a good team from Missouri. Missouri was able to do what it did with most teams in this league, moving you, playing a petty defense, ”said coach Dawn Staley. “We just didn’t make enough layups in the first one and we weren’t defensively disturbing, and we found ourselves in a tight ball game.”
The stretch that kept him out, marked by five points from Destanni Henderson and a tray, in addition to a blocked kick and assistance from Lele Grissett at 21 seconds, was what was expected of the best placed team in the country, but will lose that spot on Monday, when new research is released. Gamecocks (16-2, 11-0 SEC) won their 30º Direct play on the SEC competition and the difficult times of the first half have been a problem throughout the year.
It is not last year’s team, a special and magical group that will continue to become more legendary over the years and the “What could have been” conversations increase. These Gamecocks struggle to get layups right and their defense, which was holding back at the start of the season, is suddenly suspect.
But USC got most of its first points on the free throw line in a pleasant surprise; Zia Cooke came out of a shooting crisis and scored 15 points, the team’s best mark; and Grissett, the team’s only veteran, gave Gamecocks their first advantage since 4-2 with a 3-point basket in the second quarter, the first of their career. The USC ended up putting four in two digits.
“I usually go first, but why not? They were falling, ”shrugged Grissett, who scored nine points. “I have to put some respect on our behalf. Finally, do you know? “
Henderson, who had a bad night at UConn, seemed to say it was enough to hit the basket on the third which resulted in a tray and a foul. She missed the e-1, but ran to the corner when Boston recovered.
Her 3-point basket allowed her to finish with 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and just one turn. He also made the score 52-44 and USC can finally relax.
“We were really trying to find our rhythm,” said Henderson. “Sometimes it takes a little longer to find out, ‘This is what we were doing wrong, this is what we have to do better’.”
With a SEC regular season championship in sight, but only the first of several goals, Gamecocks are hoping to avoid any further discovery because they will have already found the answers.
Looking forward
Gamecocks host LSU at noon on Sunday.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.