Tiffany Davis out for season with knee injury at Savannah State
It wasn’t pretty, but the Gamecocks have their first three-game winning streak over rival Clemson since 2006–07, thanks to a 64-43 victory Sunday. In addition, USC is 4-0 for the first time in the Dawn Staley era.
“It was an ugly game; it really was,” head coach Staley said. “It’s unfortunate that we had so many people out that couldn’t see a more exciting game, but we’ll take the win.”
Good starts to both halves by the Gamecocks allowed them to overcome a 39.6-percent field-goal percentage for the game and 21 turnovers.
USC got off to a 17-5 lead to open the game and rode the good start to a 13-point halftime lead. Then USC used a 13-3 run to start the second half to open up a 44-23 lead on the Tigers.
“I think at the beginning of games, we are pretty ready to rock and roll,” Staley said. “I think our players knew the magnitude of the game and wanted to win.”
It was anything but smooth sailing for the Gamecocks as they struggled all day long to find their shot. Clemson played a 2-3 zone to force the Gamecocks to make jump shots, which they didn’t. South Carolina was 0-14 from behind the arc.
However, USC was able to attack the zone defense and make trips to the free-throw line, where they went 22-35 for the game.
Staley said she isn’t concerned about the 3-point shooting because her team doesn’t rely on it.
“I think it’s icing on the cake if we’re able to knock down some 3’s,” Staley said. “It’s still very early, and I think the people that are shooting them are 3-point shooters. Ieasia (Walker) can knock them down; Asia (Dozier) can knock them down. We just are finding it hard. Maybe we need to practice more [at Colonial Life Arena] instead of over at the practice facility. That might help.”
Senior forward Ashley Bruner was particularly effective, scoring 16 points while getting eight rebounds to lead the way. Bruner says the 3-point woes are OK as long as the post players do their job.
“There are going to be games that they don’t shoot well, but I’m still going to do what I’m supposed to do and what they expect me to do,” Bruner said. “If that’s just getting offensive rebounds and trying to kick it out, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
The Gamecock defense was in full force once again and has been the main reason USC has defeated all four of its opponents by at least 21 points. USC held Clemson to just 11 field goals for the game, and the Tigers shot just 24 percent.
“I think we do a pretty good job of defending,” Staley said. “I think we disrupt and try to take away what you do best, and I thought that for the most part we did that. We were contesting their shots.”
USC took over the boards in the second half, outrebounding the Tigers 27-11 in the final half. Staley says it took a halftime adjustment to get her team focused.
“We knew we were going to be challenged a lot different than we were the first three games of the season,” Staley said. “It’s a rival game for us, so they came in ready to challenge us. I just told our team at halftime that we weren’t playing disciplined enough. It was really uncharacteristic of us to turn the ball over 21 times without really being pressured. We just had to refocus and stick with the game plan.”
Tiffany Davis out for the season: USC freshman guard Tiffany Davis is out for the season with a right knee ligament injury, according to team doctor Jeffrey Guy. Davis suffered the injury against Savannah State and was averaging four points per game this season.