Women's basketball beats Dragons in overtime after trailing by 14
It took the Gamecocks almost four minutes to score a point against Drexel on Wednesday.
But on a night when the offense struggled at the outset, the defense stepped up in the second half to drag the game into extra minutes and hold the Dragons scoreless in overtime, lifting South Carolina to a 58-55 victory. The win helped USC (8-0) match its best start since the 2002-03 season.
The Gamecocks trailed all game and didn’t take the lead until senior forward Ashley Bruner hit a jumpshot from the baseline with 3:29 to play in the overtime. They scored their only other overtime point on a free throw by sophomore forward Aleighsa Welch. Bruner and Welch finished the game with 12 points apiece.
Coach Dawn Staley said the key to the defensive dominance in the final five minutes was that senior guards Ieasia Walker and Sancheon White switched the players they were covering. Walker took over guarding Drexel senior Hollie Mershon, who has led the Dragons’ offense with 19 points and nearly four assists per game.
Mershon scored 19 points on Wednesday, but Staley said Walker cut her direct lines to the basket, making it difficult for her to find a rhythm in the overtime.
“We were trying to get Sancheon to do that all game long,” Staley said. “But sometimes when you put a smaller person that can bother Mershon from underneath before she’s going into her shots — I thought Ieasia did a tremendous job with that.”
Despite its offensive woes to start the game, USC stayed close for most of the first half. But Drexel went on a 20-8 run to take a 14-point lead into halftime. The Dragons shot 62.5 percent from the field, compared to less than 30 percent for the Gamecocks. South Carolina got out-rebounded 19-10.
No one exemplified the Gamecocks’ early struggles better than Bruner, who finished the first half without a point or a rebound.
“I took it personally that I didn’t have any points or any rebounds and I wasn’t helping my team at all,” Bruner said. “So I said ‘OK, I’m changing, I’m going to do a 180 and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get my team in this game.”
Asked whether she had a specific message for Bruner at halftime, Staley said she wouldn’t repeat it in front of reporters.
“Our starters have to get us off to a good start,” Staley said. “I just thought she was pretty lethargic for this type of game. She usually is a gamer, and she usually is one that we can count on to be there when we need her.”
In the second half, the Gamecocks gradually chipped away at Drexel’s lead. Bruner went to the line with a chance to tie the game with 2 1/2 minutes left, but she missed her second shot. She made just two of her seven free throw attempts on the night.
After a jumpshot that extended Drexel’s lead to three points, White tied the game with a 3-pointer. The Dragons turned the ball over on their next possession, but a turnover by Welch gave Drexel back the ball with a chance to win it. Mershon missed a layup at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
“They came in and they were trying to put us away in the first half,” Welch said. “We had to come out in the second half with a lot more energy. We had to put the first half behind us. We just had to make it a whole new ball game, and we were able to do that.”