Mikiah Herbert Harrigan had 16 points and Tyasha Harris 15 as No. 1 South Carolina won its 24th straight game, beating Georgia 89-56 to start the SEC tournament on Friday.
The Gamecocks (30-1), the regular-season champs and tournament’s top seed, reached the 30-win mark for fourth time in the past six seasons and beat the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (17-14) for the 12th straight game.
Herbert Harrigan and Harris, the last players left from the 2017 national champions, led the way.
The senior duo combined for six of the Gamecocks’ first 10 points and kept pushing the tempo after the team had opened a double-digit lead. Harris hit a 3-pointer to cap a 13-3 run that made it 45-28.
The Gamecocks will play in the semifinals Saturday.
South Carolina's stellar freshman class, so smooth much of the season, was not as steady in its first taste of the postseason.
Guards Zia Cooke and Brea Beal, both freshmen starters, were a combined 2-of-7 shooting for nine points.
Forward Aliyah Boston, the 6-foot-5 newcomer, continued controlling the middle with 10 rebounds and four of South Carolina's 12 blocked shots. Reserves Laeticia Amihere and Victaria Saxton had three blocks apiece for the Gamecocks.
Jenna Staiti led Georgia with 16 points, only two of them coming in the final two quarters.
The Bulldogs fell apart whenever South Carolina turned up the pressure. They had 12 turnovers in the game's first 11 minutes, including five in a row as the Gamecocks built a double-digit lead. Both losses to South Carolina this season came by 30-plus points.
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