Gamecocks match last season’s total in SEC victories with win
Written on the bottom of freshman forward Pamela Decheva’s shoes is the phrase, “NCAA we are coming.”
The Gamecocks took another step towards proving that statement on Sunday with a 62-58 victory over the Florida Gators.
As the calendar inches closer and closer towards March, there will be more and more talk of the Gamecocks reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008. USC coach Dawn Staley is pleased with the postseason talk.
“Considering that we haven’t been to the Big Dance (NCAA tournament) in three years, I think it’s volatile, ” Staley said. “I think we put ourselves in the position to be talked about for the NCAA tournament. I would rather we take in that information with a legitimate shot at going, rather than just hoping and praying.”
The Gamecocks almost let this one slip away as they let a 10-point halftime lead dwindle away in the second half. A jumper by Florida’s Deana Allen tied the score at 54 with 6:33 left in the game.
However, UF could not pull in front and a little over a minute later, senior Markeshia Grant drilled a 3-pointer from the corner that gave the Gamecocks a three-point lead they would not relinquish. Grant finished with a game high 20 points, with five of six from 3-point range.
“I think before I hit that [3-pointer], we got a defensive stop that got us fired up,” Grant said. “I hit [it] and that gave us more momentum. We were getting really good looks but we just weren’t finishing.”
The first half was a completely different story as the Gamecocks virtually made every look they got. USC shot 52 percent in the first 20 minutes and made seven of ten three-point attempts to carry a 43-33 lead into halftime.
Staley gave credit to the home crowd when asked about the explosive first half.
“Our marketing department did a good job of getting people in the stands,” Staley said. “If we didn’t have them cheering us on, I don’t know if we could [have] found the energy. We looked a little tired at the end of the game, but luckily we were home. I don’t think we [could have won] this game any other place other than Colonial Life Arena.”
After going up by five with a little over four minutes to play, the Gamecocks went cold from the field and a turnover by Ieasia Walker allowed the Gators to pull within one at 59-58.
The score stayed that way for nearly two minutes until senior La’Keisha Sutton made an acrobatic layup with 32 seconds left that put USC (19-6, 8-4 SEC) back up by three. A free throw by Sutton with one second left shut the door on Florida.
“La’Keisha is a good free throw shooter so if they fouled her, we wanted her on the line,” Staley said. “We just cleared it out and let her either lead us to victory or to the agony of defeat. Luckily for us, she made the basket.”
With two of the remaining four games for the Gamecocks coming against ranked teams and one against a red-hot Arkansas squad, Staley is taking each game one at a time and hopes the tough stretch will prepare her team for the postseason.
“We will turn the page and get ready for Georgia,” Staley said. “I don’t think it will be too hard to get up for a ranked team. It all goes back to our preparation and I’m not going to use the NCAA tournament (as motivation), I’m just going to use what this team built its winning tradition on and that is preparation.”
These next four games will decide if Carolina does, in fact, return to the NCAA tournament and, according to Staley, “if we don’t do things the way we are supposed to, then that is going to signal to me that we are not ready.”