Post play proves to be key in huge wins over Charleston Southern, Louisiana Tech
The No. 22 South Carolina women’s basketball team opened its season with a pair of emphatic victories in its first two games, beating Louisiana Tech 68-45 Sunday to cap off a dominant opening weekend of play.
While the Gamecocks struggled with Louisiana Tech’s zone defense to start the game, coach Dawn Staley was pleased with her team’s ability to capitalize on openings in its opponent’s defensive scheme.
“I thought just us being able to rebound and push the ball down the floor and get some easy buckets really helped us,” Staley said. “And we tried to do that throughout the 40-minute period.”
The win over the Lady Techsters saw four Gamecocks score in double figures, led by junior forward Aleighsa Welch, a preseason All-SEC selection, who turned in 14 points.
Welch was one of two South Carolina players — along with freshman center Alaina Coates — to record a double-double on the day, hauling in 10 rebounds in the contest.
Coates started her collegiate career with a bang over the weekend, scoring 12 points and bringing down 10 rebounds Sunday after going for 20 and 7 in the opening game of the season.
“I’m ecstatic for [Coates], just that she’s getting adjusted so quickly,” Welch said. “I think that it kind of helps her confidence knowing that she can be effective in the post and not only just scoring, but rebounding.”
Welch and Coates have proven to be a formidable one-two punch in the early goings of the Gamecocks’ season, trading the distinction of leading scorer in the first two games of the year.
Though Sunday’s 23-point win was convincing in and of itself, South Carolina was even more dominant in Friday’s season-opening victory over Charleston Southern, annihilating the Buccaneers 99-29.
Staley attributed some of her team’s early success to Welch’s development into an all-around player.
“In order for us to be effective, we’re going to have to create some offense from our defense or we’ve got to get the rebounds and push it,” Staley said. “I think with the emergence of Aleighsa Welch being able to rebound and push, she makes our team quicker.”
In both of the Gamecocks’ first two outings, they have strived to push the ball into the post at the urging of their coach. South Carolina has been successful in that attempt for the most part, scoring more than half of its total points in the paint in each of its first two games.
But the Gamecocks would shoot 18 3-pointers Sunday against Louisiana Tech, a number that Staley was displeased with.
“I thought it was too many for my liking,” Staley said. “We’ve got some quick triggers. I said we can shoot them, but we wanted to wait a little bit later in the shot clock.”
However, Staley did say that despite South Carolina’s eagerness to shoot the three in Sunday’s win, she was pleased with the production from her post players, citing the fact that three of the Gamecocks’ double-digit scorers on the day were either a forward or a center.
In this early portion of the season in which South Carolina plays nonconference competition, Staley has the luxury of experimenting with her lineup in order to see which players work best together on the floor.
But she said that it is important for the Gamecocks to have this time to prepare before they go up against more challenging opponents in the SEC and beyond.
“I think that this was the kind of game in which I thought we could, once we got the lead, we could get some people some experience.” Staley said. “But if we had to play a game in which it was nip-and-tuck we probably would only go with probably no more than eight.”