Gamecocks pick up 10th SEC victory of season
After the Gamecocks got off to a dominant start against Mississippi State on Sunday, a near-collapse after halftime prompted coach Dawn Staley to call the contest a “tale of two halves.”
Despite a second-half scare from the Bulldogs, No. 15 USC (22-5, 10-4 SEC) was able to pull away at the end of the game to leave Colonial Life Arena with a 58-43 victory in its second-to-last home contest of the campaign.
“I think halftime really hurt us more than anything,” Staley said. “I thought the way we were playing we could have easily opened the game up and not made it as interesting as it was.”
The Gamecocks scored 12 unanswered points to open the game. After the half, the Bulldogs (12-15, 4-10) went on a 7-0 run but never managed to take the lead from the Gamecocks.
Sophomore Aleigsha Welch turned in a monster game for South Carolina, registering a double-double in the win. Welch was responsible for 20 of USC’s 58 points, surpassing her career best by one. Welch’s 11 rebounds, however, led an even more dominant showing on the glass.
“We made it a concerted effort throughout this week of practice and leading up to this game to attack to boards,” Welch said. “Down the stretch now we have to control the little things such as: If we can win the rebounding battle, we need to win the rebounding battle.”
The Gamecocks outrebounded Mississippi State 41-18 on the day, breaking from a season-long theme of lesser production on the boards as a result of an undersized USC lineup.
Two other Gamecocks broke double digits scoring as sophomore Elem Ibiam and freshman Khadijah Sessions both went for 11 points on the day. Ibiam’s production off the bench came in her first game back on the court after undergoing surgery to repair a broken nose she suffered in practice in early February.
Both teams involved were plagued by turnovers, as South Carolina gave up the ball 18 times and Mississippi State turned it over on 22 occasions. The Bulldogs had 17 turnovers to USC’s nine turnovers in a sloppy first half of play.
“With unforced turnovers, it gives a team a chance to capitalize,” Welch said. “And we can’t afford that. We’re not going to be able to afford that.”
In a turnover-ridden game like Sunday’s contest, scoring off takeaways becomes a key dynamic. South Carolina registered 26 points off MSU turnovers, while the Bulldogs only scored six after taking the ball from USC.
Sophomore Martha Alwal led Mississippi State in scoring with 13 points and was the only Bulldog to break double digits. Entering the game, Alwal shared the title of leading scorer with sophomore Kendra Grant at 12.2 points per game.
With the regular season winding down and the SEC tournament looming, Staley continues to emphasize focusing on internal issues to her Gamecock team.
“At this point, we don’t control our own destiny,” Staley said. “We do control what we control, which is whether we win or lose basketball games.”