COLOMBIA – They won the game, a 13-4 streak in the third quarter that led South Carolina’s No. 1 to a 77-62 women’s basketball victory 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, tired of arriving in Columbia in the early hours of Tuesday morning, 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.
The section that kept him out, marked by five points from Destanni Henderson and a tray, blocked kick and assistance from Lele Grissett in a mesmerizing move, 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 the USC got most of its first points on the free-throw line, 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.
A full story will be posted soon.
Looking forward
Gamecocks host LSU at noon on Sunday.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.