Gamecocks’ turning point: Tennessee game that changed everything for the Staley program | South Carolina

COLOMBIA – No one could have known what a victory almost a decade ago would mean for the future.

South Carolina’s 64-60 victory in Tennessee was a very special one, the first time USC women have defeated Lady Volunteers since 1980 and at the end of a 40-game losing streak.

But sitting here now and saying that the Gamecocks knew it was just the beginning of a stretch where the USC-Tennessee basketball series would be balanced (6-6 going to Thursday’s game in Knoxville), and that it would be USC, no Eight times Tennessee’s national champion, who would rule the SEC since then? Nobody saw it coming.

“It showed us that we can compete with these powers,” said former USC guard Ieasia Walker. “We may not have had many top recruits, but with what we had, the team we had, as long as we played our game, we would be fine.”

Hardened

Entering her fourth season in 2011-12, coach Dawn Staley knew she had a strong team. He drew attention to a 31-point loss in North Carolina in December and started 3-0 in the SEC, only to lose the next three.

Still, they won the next three games before heading to Knoxville on February 2. It was a game that history said that Gamecocks would lose badly. Staley almost took a turn in 2010, but the others were what the series went from 1980-2011: 40 straight losses, all except seven for at least 11 points.

“I think our mindset was, ‘Let’s make history,'” said La’Keisha Sutton, the bravest in the story of Staley’s brave guards. “We knew it was our last chance to mark our season.”

USC went 17-5, Tennessee 16-5, but came in eighth. USC football coach Steve Spurrier was in the stands. And Staley had a special guest.

Her college coach in Virginia, Debbie Ryan, spoke to Gamecocks in shootaround before the game. Ryan and Staley were sad to be in Tennessee, where they were able to look at the “National Champions of 1991” banner and think about what it could have been.

Tennessee beat Virginia 70-67 in overtime for that season’s title. Staley was voted best player in the quarterfinals, but Lady Vols hung the flag.

“Coach Ryan was telling us that people don’t think we could get in and beat Tennessee, because they were in eighth place, they had All-Americans and we didn’t have any,” said point guard Markeisha Grant. “And then Coach Ryan said, ‘You know, Dawn Staley was the underdog when she played.'”

Play on

It was a shuttle until Lady Vols rose to a 57-50 lead with five minutes to play. From there, it was all Gamecocks.

“As cliché as it sounds, for me it was looking at Coach Staley and I thought, ‘Damn it, I can’t let you down,'” Sutton said. “We had that chance and we would not be denied.”

Walker hit a tray. Grant hit a 3-point basket from Walker’s assist, one of seven she hit for the game on the way to 27 points. Ashley Bruner hit a mistake, then took the ball, fed Aleosesa Welch, a native of Goose Creek, and watched Welch bet.

“We never had the feeling that it was escaping us,” said Walker. “Markeisha was on fire. We were organizing plays specifically for her to shoot. “

Grant remembered the late Tennessee technician, Pat Summitt, in his last year on the bench, giving her that famous steel look as she continued to drain the doses.

“I wanted to play for her when I was growing up and have the time to play against her and play the way I played was incredible,” said Grant. “It was like I kept meeting his eyes and saying, ‘Are you watching me? Are you looking at me? ‘”

Charenee Stephens, Walker and Welch combined in the final stretch until Sutton, as a bodyguard never known for offensive rebounds, hit a plate and was fouled. Going to the line with a two point lead and 12 seconds to go, Sutton was thinking about many things, but not about losing them.

She had been through a lot in four years to be nervous.

“The most nervous I’ve ever been was in my first year,” she said. “The next day, in class, my teacher said, ‘Is broadcast journalism for TV more stressful or those free throws?’

“I said, ‘Broadcast journalism, of course!'”

Sutton shot the shots coolly, Tennessee ran out of time and the Gamecocks partyed on the court.

“I vividly remember looking at La’Keisha and thinking, ‘We did it!'” Said Grant. “I hugged the trainer, she was asking, ‘Are you okay?’ ‘No, we just beat Tennessee in Tennessee!’ “

“She specifically told me that there were no twists and turns in that game, so that’s important in her book as a point guard,” said Walker.

Sutton, who had won 10 games as a freshman and almost moved after his second season, just reflected.

“Everything was so serious in those first three years. That was the turning point, as if we could breathe, so let’s have fun now, ”said Sutton. “I think about our class a lot. I feel like we’re forgotten. I’m fine with that, because of the sacrifices we made, how we played with what we had. Now everyone wants to go there ”.

Since

Gamecocks burst with a 25-10 season, ending in Sweet 16. The Volts finished in Elite Eight, and then won the SEC’s regular season championship in 2012-13.

The following year, the USC won its first SEC regular season title. In 2014-15, the teams tied for the title, but the USC was number 1 after winning the head-to-head, and then the Gamecocks beat Tennessee in their first SEC Tournament championship.

Since 2015-16, USC has won two more regular season titles and four tournaments. The Vols did not finish above fifth place.

No one is comparing the full story. There is still the question of Lady Vols having seven more national championships than the USC.

But recently?

“I believe that South Carolina will at some point overcome what Tennessee did,” said Grant.

“I think they could do more.”

The mansion’s last brick can be laid on Thursday in Knoxville, as the first was nine years ago.