COLOMBIA – South Carolina could put the other four screens on the ground and let Zia Cooke beat scoring records. She is more than capable.
But Gamecocks in fifth place were never about individuals.
Cooke lit the Temple by 23 points and USC won a 103-41 victory on Thursday, just the second game in 11 days and the last for another two weeks. Gamecocks (5-1) are veterans of handling exams / vacations every season, but there is always a bit of rust in the first lap game.
After throwing it in the trash, no. 23 Iowa State on his home court on December 6, USC played his annual game against Temple, former coach of Dawn Staley technical parade run by his former Virginia teammate Tonya Cardoza. As usual, the talent gap was significant.
Even so, after an initial explosion led by Cooke, the USC again missed shots on the edge, losing one or two players in defense and out of their transition game.
“We were a little lethargic when we just came out of the closet,” said Staley. “After spending 10 days away and having the practices we had and the emphasis we had on just shooting very well and defending the way we wanted to … I wasn’t too concerned about that.”
It took a while to freeze, Owls’ height collapsing in the center of Aliyah Boston, but it was Cooke’s turn. She calmly overtook Temple’s compact defense in search of buckets or went out to make 3 points, giving her 12 points in the first quarter.
Then Temple’s top scorer Mia Davis and striker Alexa Williamson were cautioned for their third foul in the second half, and the USC managed to hit the clutch. A 11-0 run gave Gamecocks a double-digit advantage and they came home.
Cooke reached 500 career points in just 39º games. Four others were in double digits. Gamecocks allowed only 16 points in the second half and scored 30 points in 18 Temple turns.
“I kind of figured it was going to be a really good night, based on the week I had,” said Cooke. “I think it is good to involve my teammates, because I cannot win the games alone. If I don’t have a clean, open shot, I probably won’t shoot. “
Laeticia Amihere, who sank at school, did not have a chance last year due to recovering from a knee injury. She had a chance to bury on Thursday, but was content with a finger scroll tray when she felt she was hit from behind by a Temple player.
She scored 11 points in 14 minutes.
“They are thinking,” said Staley. “If we can eliminate some of the bad moves, we can probably raise their confidence level a little bit more.”
Looking forward
The USC is disabled until December 31, when the home conference against Ole Miss begins.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.