Coates named SEC Freshman of the Week
It looked like South Carolina women’s basketball team would face its first test of the season Sunday against Seton Hall. But a sluggish first half for the Gamecocks gave way to the dominant showing fans are used to, as South Carolina went on to win 88-67.
“I thought we just tightened up things (in the second half) from an offensive standpoint,” coach Dawn Staley said. “I’m pretty pleased that we were calculating in the type of shots that we wanted.”
At the conclusion of the first half, the No. 19 Gamecocks were clinging to a two-point lead after shooting just 40.9 percent from the field in the opening period. After the two teams returned to the court for the second half, it appeared Staley worked her magic in the locker room, as South Carolina (4-0) turned in a 73.9 shooting percentage in the closing half.
“Coach made a few adjustments at halftime about where to get the ball to,” sophomore guard Khadijah Sessions said. “She’d seen open holes in their defense so she said just move the ball.”
While Sessions’ 17 points Sunday were good for a season-high, she deferred to junior forward Aleighsa Welch as the engine that ran the Gamecock offense in the second half.
Turning in 15 points of her own in the contest, Welch has thus far earned her Preseason All-SEC nod, emerging as a leader verbally and demonstratively for South Carolina.
“It was mostly our main focus to get the high post to come up to get in the meat of their defense,” Sessions said. “[Staley] said just get the ball inside and, Aleighsa, she’s good passer, she’s a good shooter, she knows what to do. She’s a good decision maker, so we were like, ‘Get the ball to Aleighsa.’”
So far this season, it has not been out of the ordinary for multiple Gamecocks to score in double digits in a single game, but South Carolina took that concept to another level Sunday. Five Gamecocks finished in double figures, led by junior center Elem Ibiam’s 18 points on the day.
“I think this team versus last year’s team, everybody can score,” Staley said. “There isn’t anybody that people can just totally lay off because they all can shoot from the outside, and people will usually pick their poison.”
Sessions and Welch joined Ibiam in double figures along with sophomore Tiffany Mitchell and freshman Alaina Coates. In Coates’ first four collegiate games, she has turned in double-digit performances in three of them and was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday.
Seton Hall entered the contest at 3-0 and seemingly posed the most viable threat the Gamecocks had faced all season. Before their trip to Colonial Life Arena, the Pirates had beaten all three of their previous opponents by at least 10 points.
Although it didn’t appear it would be the case after the closely contested first half, South Carolina was able to secure another margin of victory above 20 points, a mark the team has surpassed in every game so far.
While Seton Hall had proven themselves formidable so far this season, Staley said her team was still taken by surprise when the Pirates put up the fight they did in the first half. But the coach conceded that all is well that ends well, and she was happy to leave Colonial Life Arena with another convincing win.
“I thought their zone and their ability to just light up from the three-point really caught us off guard a little bit, and we knew that they were capable but we didn’t think they would shoot as well as they shot,” Staley said. “But the second half I thought we did a couple adjustments from a defensive and an offensive standpoint where we could get some fast-break points.”