South Carolina ranked No. 24 in most recent AP Top-25 poll
After the win over then-No. 8 Tennessee, USC coach Dawn Staley is relieved that her squad had a couple of days off in between its win over the Lady Vols and the next contest against Arkansas tonight.
“I think we need to enjoy the journey,” Staley said. “But also, we have to be big girls and turn the page. I think our preparation for this game wasn’t great, but I think our players are ready from an execution standpoint. They’re trying to fight themselves out of it, but as coaches, we’re scratching and clawing trying to get them to refocus. I think by the time we suit up, we should be ready to go.”
Staley said that beating Tennessee in Knoxville was “very important from a morale standpoint,” but hopes that the Gamecocks will respond better than the last time they were ranked, when USC lost three straight. For that, Staley will rely on the veterans to steady the team after a big win and a new No. 24 ranking.
“Through the losing streak and through the winning streak, I think it’s always great to have senior leadership,” Staley said. “I think they’ve seen all of the trials and tribulations of the program. They know — they’ve experienced it and they’ve been in the locker room. To have our captains and our leaders step up the way they have this particular season, has been a beautiful thing.”
Staley particularly saw senior guard Markeshia Grant step up in the off-season, when she worked on her 3-point shot. Against Tennessee, Grant had a career-high 27 points, with seven of her baskets being 3-pointers. Grant was tabbed the SEC Player of the Week for women’s basketball, as well as Player of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
“For us, the whole theme of the offseason workouts was to be more efficient on the offensive end,” Staley said. “I did talk with Markeshia about trying to get her 3-point shooting percentage in the 40s. I just thought it would help our basketball team overall. The fact that she is shooting over 40 percent throughout this winning streak, it just goes to show how important it is for us for her to shoot as efficient as she is.”
For Grant, the improvement as a shooter has not only come from getting repetitions in the offseason, but also from a mental change.
“I think it’s just being confident in my shot or getting to the basket,” Grant said. “Just confidence.”
Furthermore, Grant’s build is more suited to being a shooter rather than driving the lane for a whole game, especially because it creates opportunities for forwards Charenee Stephens and Aleighsha Welch in the paint.
“I just thought once the SEC season started, she was playing at a much higher level ----— --just being more aggressive from an offensive standpoint,” Staley said. “She’s pretty light though, so I don’t think she can handle driving to the basket for 40 minutes, but her ability to shoot the ball from the outside, and in a way, she gets it off pretty quick. I thought that she would be able to keep defenses honest and allow us to open the floor up a little bit for some driving.”
Though the win over the Lady Vols was Grant’s best performance this season, she and the team have followed Staley’s 24-hour rule — where victories and losses cannot be dwelt on for more than a day.
“I think we’ve moved on,” Grant said. “The last two practices it’s been about Arkansas. I mean, we still think about it, but it’s not as big as it was last week.”
The Razorbacks are in fourth place in the SEC and on a six-game winning streak, which heightens the importance for Staley to move the team past the high of beating Tennessee and on to preparing for an Arkansas squad that is looking to overtake USC for third place in the SEC.
“It’s been a focus for our coaches,” Staley said. “We understand and we look at the standings, and I’m quite sure the players do amongst themselves. We can’t allow anything — the standings or the Tennessee win — to blur our vision in what we’re trying to do. We haven’t played well toward the end of the season in the past two years. We have to change that. We have to finish and that’s mainly our focus.”