# 5/4 SOUTH CAROLINA (6-1, 1-0 SEC) IN ALABAMA (8-0, 1-0 SEC)
19h ET MONDAY, JANUARY 4 | TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA | COLEMAN COLISEUM
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ABOUT THIS GAME
The Gamecocks and Crimson Tide meet in the SEC’s second game of the season for the second consecutive season, with both games being in Tuscaloosa.
South Carolina have won their last 16 games against Alabama, which is all the games in the Dawn Staley was.
The Gamecocks are trying to start the SEC campaign 2-0 for the eighth consecutive season.
USC Athletics Communications and Public Relations
GAMECOCK NOTABLES
Dawn Staley’s 139 SEC wins are tied for the fifth time among league coaches, matching former Auburn coach Joe Ciampi. She is second among the top active coaches in the league, behind Gary Blair with 141 (until 12/31). His winning percentage of 0.728 is the second of all time, behind that of Tennessee Pat Summitt. In his 13th season, Staley accounts for 72.0% of the SEC’s 193 wins in his 30th season in South Carolina.
Unanimous pre-season AP All-American Aliyah Boston scored double digits in six of seven games this season with three doubles, but going to the SEC game, she was still looking for a game that caught the eye. She delivered that against Florida (December 31), not just in gross numbers – her career record 28 points, 16 rebounds, four blocks and three steals – but also in the way she scored. Boston had 4 out of 6 with the paint, 4 out of 7 with the middle range and 3 out of 5 with the 3 point range. She ended the half time by bringing the ball across the court after a rebound and hitting a jumper at the end of the time. She was the only Gamecock to score a 3 in the game, and her 28 points were the highest for a Gamecock since Bianca Cuevas-Moore reached that mark in Tennessee on February 24, 2019.
All-SEC pre-season squad Zia Cooke moved up to fourth in the SEC with 18.9 points per game, after averaging 22.7 points in the last three games with 53.3% of pitches. Better pitching makes her distribute the ball more, with an average of 4.3 assists during that stretch.
The guard Junior Destanni Henderson is in 21st place in the country, with 5.6 assists per game, the best in the SEC. She has given six or more assists in each of the last four games, including a record nine against Florida (December 31). Its 3.0 turnover assistance ratio is the sixth at the SEC.
Junior Victaria Saxton has dominated the cup for the past three games, averaging 9.3 rebounds in that period, including a 12-career career tie with Florida (December 31). She also blocked 3.3 shots per game over that time. Numbers that placed it in 15th and 2nd place in the SEC in rebounds and blocks, respectively.
BY NUMBERS
7.3 South Carolina is in third place in the country, with 7.3 blocks per game at the SEC.
+18.1 Gamecocks are fourth in the country with a +18.1 recovery margin. They were not hit this season.
23 South Carolina was ranked in the top five of the last 23 AP Top 25 Polls, the longest active streak in the country.
24.1 The Gamecocks bench averages 24.1 points per game, scoring at least a third of the team’s points in three games this season.
62.0 In the last three games, South Carolina helped 62.0 percent of their field goals scored. That number was only 45.8 percent in the first four games.
62.5 Gamecocks are shooting 62.5% in paint in the last three games.