Top-seed South Carolina’s last-second 67-65 victory over fourth-seeded North Carolina on Friday was a big one for the Gamecocks. South Carolina earned a spot in the Elite Eight for the first time since 2002, while getting revenge against a Tar Heel team that ended its season last year in the Sweet 16.
As sweet as it was for head coach Dawn Staley’s team to win against North Carolina, the victory is in the past and all focus has moved to Sunday’s matchup with second-seeded Florida State.
The game between the Gamecocks and the Seminoles will be a historic one. Neither school has ever reached a Final Four before and South Carolina is determined to carry out its season-long plan of bringing home a national championship.
“This isn’t the point in our season that we want to be and as far as to say, okay we got over the Sweet 16 hump, we’re satisfied,” South Carolina senior forward Aleighsa Welch said. “We still have bigger and better goals for ourselves.”
Florida State has different plans. The Seminoles think they’re talented enough to play spoiler and be the team that earns a trip to Tampa Bay for the Final Four.
Guided by head coach Sue Semrau, Florida State has won 10 of its past 11 games, only slipping up in the ACC tournament championship game against Notre Dame.
The Seminoles survived a scare from third-seeded Arizona State Friday night and held on for a 66-65 win behind a 21-point performance by sophomore guard Leticia Romero.
Like its done all season, Florida State won the rebounding battle against the Sun Devils and its the Seminoles’ size that could possibly present a challenge to South Carolina.
Led by junior center Adut Bulgak, Florida State has a bevy of post players who can match up with South Carolina in terms of size and strength. In total, the Seminoles have six players 6’1” or taller.
“It’s [rebounding] become a big identity for our team and yeah, we check — we’ll like check the stat sheet to make sure that we have out-rebounded everybody just because it’s such a main focus of our game,” Bulgak said.
Rebounding is far from the only thing Bulgak does well, though. The Edmonton, Canada native leads Florida State with 12.4 points per game and she’s isn’t the only Seminole who can produce on offense.
Five different players average double-figures for Florida State, but for South Carolina, slowing down the Seminoles begins with controlling the paint.
“It’s a huge challenge,” Staley said. “It’s something that they do extremely well. It’s going to be probably the No. 1 key to the basketball game.”
Still, Florida State will have to slow down South Carolina’s bigs as well. As talented and deep as the Seminoles’ frontcourt is, South Carolina’s frontcourt is arguably as effective.
Whether it be sophomore center Alaina Coates, freshman guard/forward A’ja Wilson, senior center Elem Ibiam or Welch, South Carolina has several post players who can work operate well down low.
“I could talk a long time about the difficulty that they present,” Semrau said. “Talk about size; talk about speed; strength; depth; their ability to defend.”
With both teams having a strong presence on the inside, guard play could be a difference maker and junior shooting guard Tiffany Mitchell definitely gives South Carolina an advantage in that department.
A two-time SEC player of the year, Mitchell played at a high level Friday night, turning in an impressive performance that ended with a game-winning layup with five seconds remaining.
“If there is a blueprint for becoming an All-American, I think she sets the stage for having the outline for how you become great at your sport,” Staley said.
A great performance by Mitchell against Florida State would definitely help South Carolina on Sunday, but the Gamecocks will take a win anyway they can get one. As long as their title chances are still alive, that’s all that matters.
“Our ultimate goal is to win the national championship, so that’s what we’re going to try to do tomorrow — or get to the Final Four tomorrow,” Mitchell said.