The Daily Gamecock

Gamecocks favored heading into SEC Tournament

<p>South Carolina will face either Missouri or Auburn in its first SEC Tournament game Friday.</p>
South Carolina will face either Missouri or Auburn in its first SEC Tournament game Friday.

The Gamecock women’s basketball team’s nearly flawless record earned it a first and second round bye in the SEC Tournament that starts on Wednesday.

Teams seeded one through four in the women’s SEC standings were each rewarded with a first and second round bye. South Carolina will play the winner of Thursday’s game between Auburn and Missouri.

Both Auburn and Missouri finished the regular season with an 8-8 record in the SEC; however, Missouri won the seeding tiebreaker with a head-to-head victory. The Gamecocks defeated both teams handily in the regular season by an average margin of 20.5 points.

Missouri is a slightly more difficult matchup for South Carolina, as they edge Auburn in offensive efficiency and boast a fiercer frontline led by junior forward Jordan Frericks. In the SEC, Frericks ranks in the top 7 in rebounds per game (7.8) and field goal percentage (55.6) and the top 20 in points per game (12.4) and blocks per game (0.7). With that in mind, South Carolina’s frontcourt, consisting of Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson, outsizes Missouri by a large margin.

The real X-factor for Missouri, though, is freshman guard Sophie Cunningham. Cunningham instantly assumed the leadership duties upon her arrival at Missouri, scoring 23 points in her college debut. Since then, the guard scored 20 or more points in seven games, including a career-high 42 points against Wake Forest in November. The 6-foot-1 guard is a capable rebounder and can get hot from three-point distance at any time, nailing 33 total three-pointers this season. Cunningham led the Tigers in scoring this season, averaging 13.8 points per game.

Auburn is no slouch, however, having beaten Kentucky once this year and nearly beating them on the road in their second matchup. The Tigers lost by 16 points in Colonial Life Arena earlier this season, but outside of the second quarter, where they were outscored 20-5, the Gamecocks only outscored the visitors by four points in the third quarter. Junior guard Katie Frerking, second on the team in scoring, put up 17 points in the January matchup, but the Tigers didn’t have the size to keep up with South Carolina.

Few teams can match up with the size of South Carolina bigs Coates and Wilson, who put up a combined 28 points and 16 rebounds on 12-17 shooting in the previous matchup of the two teams. The Tigers’ tallest player is 6-foot-3 Tra’Cee Tanner, two inches shorter than Wilson and an inch shy of Coates, giving the Gamecocks an advantage in the post and in the rebounding battle.

Tanner is one of three Tigers who average double-figure scoring, and she also ranks 10th in the SEC with 7.3 rebounds per game. Along with Brandy Montgomery, ninth in the conference with 14.6 points per contest, and Frerking, Auburn has a trio that could potentially challenge Wilson, Coates and senior guard Tiffany Mitchell.

If the Gamecocks get through the quarterfinals, a matchup with Kentucky or Florida will likely await them, assuming one of those top teams doesn’t fall to Alabama or LSU. The Wildcats gave South Carolina a couple tough games this season, while the Gamecocks took care of Florida relatively handily on Feb. 11. While the SEC is loaded with talented players and teams, Coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks are certainly expected to take care of business and hoist the SEC Tournament trophy for the second year running.


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