The South Carolina women’s basketball team showed no signs of rust in its season opener Friday against Charleston Southern, leaving Colonial Life Arena with a dominant 99-29 victory.
“We wanted to push the ball down the floor and kind of put Charleston Southern back on their heels,” coach Dawn Staley said. “And I thought we did a pretty good job at it.”
Freshman center Alaina Coates impressed in her first collegiate game, leading the way for the No. 22 Gamecocks with 20 points. A McDonald’s and Parade All-American last year, Coates also managed to haul in seven rebounds.
South Carolina received substantial help from its bench Friday, with just over 40 percent of its total points coming from non-starters, including Coates. Junior center Elem Ibiam recorded the second-most points of any Gamecock with 17, and preseason All-SEC forward Aleighsa Welch paced South Carolina on the boards with a team-high eight rebounds.
Falling in line with Staley’s emphasis on post-play this season, the Gamecocks scored 70 of their 99 points in the paint Friday and out-rebounded the Buccaneers 46 to 25.
The Gamecocks will return to the hardwood Sunday for their second contest of the year when they take on Louisiana Tech.
“We’re here, at home, and we’re going to keep pounding the ball inside and we’re going to force them to play our post players,” Staley said. “And hopefully we can get up and down the floor and use being in Colonial Life Arena to our advantage.”