South Carolina provided ample evidence Thursday night that while the No. 8 Gamecocks might not be the dominating force they were a year ago in their run to the national title, they’re still a force to be reckoned with.
With a 77-65 SEC victory over No. 20 Georgia, South Carolina improved to 21-5 overall and 9-3 in the league while handing the Lady Bulldogs (21-5, 9-4) a dispiriting loss in a game that was neck-and-neck for the first 25 minutes.
South Carolina outscored Georgia 18-7 in the final six minutes of third quarter, with Tyasha Harris scoring nine of those points. The Gamecocks scored 24 points to the Lady Bulldogs’ 13 points in the pivotal third quarter.
“It was a knock-down, drag-out,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “The team that got the run would probably be the team that would win and lucky for us we had the run.”
Here are five observations from the game:
A game most foul
All players get five personal fouls, and it seemed as if the Lady Bulldogs were determined to get their money’s worth Thursday. As might be expected with such a strong inside presence, South Carolina drew plenty of fouls, one of which angered Georgia coach Joni Taylor enough to draw a technical foul in the third quarter.
In a very physical game, the Lady Bulldogs were called for 27 fouls, compared with South Carolina’s 17 fouls. And the Gamecocks made plenty of hay at the free-throw line, sinking 27 of 35 attempts. In contrast, Georgia went to the line nine times, making five. It was the second consecutive game the Lady Bulldogs’ opponent had at least 30 free throws.
Starters Caliya Robinson, Mackenzie Engram and Haley Clark were all whistled for four fouls, as was reserve Malury Bates, who collected four fouls in just 13 minutes of play. The large number of fouls not only sent South Carolina to the line 35 times, but it also forced Taylor to do a lot of personnel juggling.
“When you can’t get into a flow because you’re having to sub or you’re getting fouls and you’re in and out and in and out – it just makes it difficult,” Taylor said. “It affects things when you can’t keep certain lineups on the floor, especially in a game like this.”
Glassworks
The Gamecocks dominated the boards, outrebounding Georgia 47-32, holding the Lady Bulldogs well under their 40-rebounds-per-game average. South Carolina also had 18 offensive rebounds, which enabled them to record 18 second-chance points to Georgia's eight.
“Their second shot is their best shot,” Taylor said. “It’s tough enough to guard them the first time around; you can’t give them another chance, especially when that person is A’ja (Wilson) or Alexis (Jennings).”
“That was our gameplan – to limit them to one shot, and we didn’t do it,” added Engram, who had a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. “That’s where a lot of their momentum came from. They got second-chance points, and that’s usually when they got fouled. And they’re a good foul-shooting team. And we knew that.”
Wilsonator
On Tuesday, Taylor called South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson the best player in the country, and the Lady Bulldogs certainly treated her as such, as nearly every time the 6-foot-5 senior received the ball in the post, she was generally met by two or three opponents seeking to block her path.
All the attention did little to slow Wilson, as she finished with a double-double of 18 points (on 6-of-18 shooting) and 16 rebounds. Her teammates did a nice job complementing Wilson, as three other Gamecocks recorded double-digit points.
Harris scored a game-high 20 points, followed by Alexis Jennings (19 points) and Bianca Jackson. The Gamecocks shot just under 40 percent from the field.
“(Wilson) is a great player and we knew she would get around her average,” Engram said. “We’re OK with that, but we couldn’t let anyone else get close to their average, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight.”
Fit to be tied, for a while
Before South Carolina took control in the third quarter, fans were treated to an extremely tight game. The score was tied seven times, and there were nine lead changes in the game.
The Gamecocks’ largest lead of 19 points came with two minutes remaining, and they held the lead for 16:23. Georgia never led by more than six points and was ahead for 20 minutes.
Georgia also had four players score in double figures -- Taja Cole led the way with 12 points, and Engram, Robinson and Que Morrison tallied 11 points each.
Where to now?
With losses this week to No. 11 Tennessee and South Carolina, Georgia has fallen out of second place in the SEC standings, and there are two other teams – Tennessee and No. 13 Missouri – with the same record as the Lady Bulldogs.
Georgia will play at Ole Miss (11-15, 1-11) on Monday and will travel to Alabama (16-10, 6-7) on Thursday before closing out the regular season at home against Florida (10-15, 2-10) on Feb. 25.
“We’ll travel to Ole Miss to play a really good team at home that played us well here,” Taylor said. “We have to have the right frame of mind, and we’re still in a good position, and we have to learn from this.”
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