Gamecocks look to secure upset over Tennessee
The South Carolina women’s basketball team will look to follow up on Sunday’s overtime victory at Mississippi when it takes on No. 5 Tennessee tonight in the first of three straight home games.
The Lady Volunteers are off to a strong start this season and enter tonight’s matchup with a perfect 5-0 conference record.
Carolina jumped out to a quick lead in last year’s matchup — going up 13-0 in the game’s opening minutes — but the Lady Vols clawed their way back to win 60-55.
“It was a good team last year, and I think they are a better team,” coach Dawn Staley said. “As for us, we’ve been progressing to the point where I think we can at least compete and see where we end up.”
The Gamecocks are looking to get back to .500 in the SEC, coming into the game at 2-3. They’ve found success at home — boasting just two losses at the Colonial Life Arena so far this season — but Staley believes a win against Tennessee would be especially significant.
“I really don’t think we’ve had a defining win since I’ve been here,” Staley said.” I think the stage is set for us to compete and put ourselves in a position to win. I think we’re playing well at home. We score a lot more points at home. I think that’s the thing that’s been holding us back — the inconsistency on the offensive end.”
Carolina saw an offensive explosion from senior guard Valerie Nainima when she scored seven of its 11 points in overtime at Ole Miss. To knock off the Lady Vols, however, the team will need a sound defensive performance and minimal turnovers, Staley said.
“I think for the most part we have taken care of the basketball, and the times that we haven’t — that’s the difference,” Staley said. “We’re a rebounding basketball team, but when you look at the turnover column, that’s the thing where we’ve given teams too many opportunities to score on us, which puts a lot of pressure on our defense. Again, it goes back to offensively playing well. We’re taking care of the basketball, we’re taking good shots and I think we put ourselves in a position to win.”
Leading the way in scoring for Tennessee is freshman guard Meighan Simmons, who comes in averaging 16.2 points per game. The Gamecocks will look to counter with sophomore guard Ieasia Walker, who recorded her first career double-double on Sunday and leads the team with 12.1 points per game.
“There’s no pressure on us,” Staley said. “There’s really no pressure on us. I don’t think anyone in America thinks that we can win this game, so our kids are just playing really loose. We’ve got them playing really loose. There’s no pressure on us, and I think the looser we are, the better off we are.”