Sophomore Dozier leads Gamecocks with 16 points
The crowd erupted as junior forward Aleighsa Welch rebounded a shot and quickly pushed the ball up the court to sophomore guard Asia Dozier, who nailed the three and put the Lady Gamecocks in a place they hadn’t been all game-the lead.
The No. 22 South Carolina women’s basketball team defeated College of Charleston 81-54 on Thursday night, but the win did not come without a first half battle.
The Cougars quickly jumped out to an 11-4 lead four minutes into the game and eventually pushed the lead to 9 halfway through the first half.
But Welch and Dozier helped the Gamecocks storm back to take the lead, combining for 20 points in the first half and shooting 50% from the field.
Being down by 9 late into the first half introduced the Gamecocks to something new. The team had not trailed all season and had to come back for the first time to beat a team.
“For us, a marathon is not won in the first mile. Teams are going to come in and play well against us. I thought it showed true character of our team that we didn’t hang our heads, we just fought a little bit harder, dug a little bit deeper,” coach Dawn Staley said. “Once we got control of the game, the rebounding, the hitting shots, the pushing the ball in transition, it felt like our type of game.”
South Carolina ended up leading by 12 at the end of the first half and ultimately ran away with the game, beating the Cougars by 27 points. Dozier scored 16 points, which led all scorers and set her career-high.
Her 16 points came with the help of offensive rebounds from Welch and freshman forward Alaina Coates, who both combined for 31 rebounds. That presence on the offensive glass helped to open up shots for teammates. Both players achieved a double double during the game.
“We feel a lot better taking them knowing we have offensive rebounders getting the boards,” Dozier said. “We are getting offensive production whether or not we’re making outside shots when you’re getting offensive boards and put backs and getting to the line.”
And get to the line the Gamecocks did.
The team reached the free throw line 42 times during the game, but only made 22 of them. That kind of inconsistency from the free throw line, according to Staley, can hurt a team later on in the season.
“If we are getting there 42 times a game, obviously we want to score more points from there. First things first are getting there so I’m glad we got there, I think this is eye opening for us,” Staley said. “They were just talking about how much they were going to get in the gym and shoot free throws after this poor display of free throw shooting. Obviously I hope we are not going down the road we did last year where it becomes such a mental thing that we shoot them at this rate.”
With the win, the team moves to 3-0 on the season with a game upcoming Sunday against Seton Hall at home. Tipoff will be at 3 p.m.
Staley and the team look to improve from this large victory against an instate school and have even more production out of her players.
“It was a good showing by everyone,” Staley said. “Hopefully we will get to the point where everybody is a scoring threat and people aren’t playing four or five feet off of us every night.”