NASHVILLE, Tenn. – South Carolina coach Dawn Staley is pushing her Gamecocks from fifth place to keep improving, no matter what the score.
This focus was tested on Thursday night, and Gamecocks performed strongly.
Victaria Saxton scored 20 points and South Carolina defeated Vanderbilt 106-43 on Thursday night to stay perfect at the Southeast Conference.
“It’s all about trying to have a general mindset, which means you don’t play for the scoreboard, but for the moment,” said Staley.
His Gamecocks (9-1, 4-0) did just that by winning their twentieth consecutive time after being unbeaten in the league game last season, and are four wins away from matching their longest SEC winning streak. South Carolina won 24 in a row between January 3, 2016 and January 26, 2017.
Brea Beal also scored 17 points, Destanni Henderson added 12, and Laeticia Amihere scored 11. Pre-season All-American Aliyah Boston scored seven points and 10 rebounds in the Gamecocks’ second-highest scoring game this season.
South Carolina also won its sixth consecutive game and the 13th consecutive game in this series, improving to 14-2 with Dawn Staley as coach.
Koi Love led Vanderbilt (4-3, 0-2) with 18 points. Only eight Commodores played, compared to 11 at Gamecock, with only one South Carolina player playing less than 13 minutes.
“Obviously, South Carolina is a candidate for the national championship and they have been relentless for 40 minutes,” said Vanderbilt coach Stephanie White. “Its size, its length, its versatility. They’re great at the transition, they’re great at the defensive end of the court. It is a difficult match for us anywhere, much less when we are so limited in our numbers. “
The Gamecocks never lost when Boston opened the scoring with a jumper. They quickly increased their lead to double digits thanks to a 12-2 run and simply dominated again at Memorial Gym. They led 30-13 after the first quarter and 49-13 at the break.
Staley said he was proud of how the Gamecocks played defensively, remaining engaged for 98% of the game against a constantly moving Vanderbilt attack.
“It was a good game for us to evaluate ourselves and try to put another mark on our belt to have some kind of identity on the defensive side of the ball,” said Staley.
The Commodores struggled to score with their worst drought, starting at the end of the first quarter, after Kyndall Golden’s 2:27 basket pulled Vandy to 27-13. They missed all 16 shots in the second quarter.
Yaubryon Chambers finally scored on a 9:37 tray in the third quarter to break Vanderbilt’s drought. South Carolina still led 82-27 at the end of the third.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: This was only the second time that Gamecocks did not allow a point in a quarter. The last time was on January 30, 2020, against Ole Miss. They dominated the painting at both ends, surpassing Vandy 66-32 in that area. They also had a 60-28 lead on the bags and a 41-12 lead on fast attack points.
Vanderbilt: This is the second straight loss for the Commodores, after having a game canceled and three postponed. They now lost 21 straight to the top five programs.
CHANGING UP
This victory was the 142nd of the SEC’s regular season for Staley, taking her to fourth place in the category. Staley broke the tie with Van Chancellor, who had 141 wins over 20 seasons at Ole Miss. Chancellor was also the Olympic coach at Staley in 2004 in Athens. Staley is two backs of Texas A&M coach Gary Blair (144).
NEXT
South Carolina: hosts Arkansas on Monday night.
Vanderbilt: In 12th place in Kentucky on Sunday.
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