USC shoots 50 percent from 3-point range
Immediately after South Carolina won the opening tip, the chants began from the Ole Miss bench.
“Defense! Defense! Defense!” the Rebels’ reserves chanted rhythmically.
The chants were to no avail, however, as the defense was unable to stop senior guard La’Keisha Sutton, who went 4-for-4 from 3-point range to start the game, getting USC out to a 22-7 lead that would quiet the chants for only a short time.
The chants would pick back up after the next Gamecock score, but the result didn’t change, as USC rode its first-half offense to a 61-43 victory.
“I think it was one of those nights,” Sutton said. “I came out and hit my first shot, and my team knows I’m a streaky shooter, and when I’m being aggressive, I’m capable of making a lot of shots.”
The Gamecocks held a 19-point lead at halftime behind 15-for-34 shooting from the field, five of which were 3-pointers. In contrast, the Rebels were stifled by USC’s defense, shooting just 25 percent from the field and being held to a meager 16 points.
“We didn’t anticipate shooting 50 percent from 3, but we’re capable from an offensive standpoint,” said USC coach Dawn Staley. “I think our kids just have to be confident. Part of it is just that we lack confidence in taking shots because we’re afraid to miss them. If you look at our percentages, we missed a whole lot of shots, but if you could just focus in and be confident in taking shots, then we can knock them down.”
The Rebels’ defense found its rhythm after halftime, however, as Ole Miss got out to a 10-0 run. Ole Miss would cut USC’s lead by eight, but as Sutton didn’t keep the same pace she had in the first half, Markeshia Grant picked up where she left off, finishing with 20 points, just two off her career high. Sutton finished with 17 points.
“We told them at halftime that they’ll probably have a run in them,” Staley said. “We’ve got to do things to sustain the run. I didn’t call a timeout because I wanted our team to learn and work through that. The things we were doing earlier in the basketball game, things just got away from us. We weren’t getting back in transition, they were getting easy buckets and you’re not going to hold (Valencia) McFarland down very long, nor (Nikki) Byrd. It was a lapse, and we’ve got to make sure we take care of those lapses.”
For the Gamecocks, who had lost three of their past four, the win was essential to keeping the momentum from a win against then-ranked Vanderbilt on Sunday. Staley was not surprised to see her senior leadership step up when the defense took a step back in the second half.
“It was great for them from a confidence stand point,” Staley said. “La’Keisha has been shooting the ball well. She shot it well at Vanderbilt. Markeshia has been slowly getting back to taking her shots — her normal shots where she’s not thinking about it. She’s just taking shots within our offense. I thought we did a pretty good job with that. That was one of the keys in coming into this game, taking shots within our offense, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”
After the game, Grant and Sutton both said the team is focusing on one game at a time, and while Staley agrees with that mentality, there’s also no danger on allowing the team to envision the possibility of an NCAA tournament berth.
“Just making sure that we’re holding serve,” Staley said. “We have to make it to where they’re aware of it, but we can’t put too much pressure on them to win basketball games. We’re not going to add it. Once we get our kids to a place where they’re just focused on one game, I think we’re pretty good in those situations.”
South Carolina was pretty good in the situation it was faced with against Ole Miss. As the lead dwindled, the Gamecocks held serve, continuing to have offensive production from the veterans. With each 3-pointer, a trio of fans in section 114 hung a poster on the railing, totaling nine posters by the end of the night.
The chants from the Ole Miss bench became less pronounced with each poster that went on the railing. On the final USC possession, the Rebels’ bench was silent, as defense was no longer a factor — Tina Roy was dribbling to run out the clock for the Gamecock victory.