Gamecocks topple Missouri 78-62 Sunday
A strong first half helped the South Carolina women’s basketball team on Sunday earn its 20th win of the season 78-62 against Missouri as well as first place in the SEC.
Sophomore guard Tiffany Mitchell scored 20 points to go along with nine rebounds and four steals in the win. Along with Mitchell, sophomore point guard Khadijah Sessions was active on the defensive end with four steals of her own, in addition to 13 points and six assists.
Turnovers were an issue for the Tigers (14-8, 3-6 SEC) in the first half. They committed 13 while South Carolina had only three. The Gamecocks (20-2, 8-1 SEC) scored 23 points off turnovers in the first half.
“In the second half, when they got going, I thought just having to play exhaustive basketball in the first half really helped us hold on to get this win,” coach Dawn Staley said.
Sessions set the tone early with a nice dish off to junior forward Aleighsa Welch for a layup to give South Carolina a 13-5 lead with under 15 minutes remaining in the first half. Sophomore guard Asia Dozier hit a three a few minutes later to push the Gamecock lead to 18-7. Dozier finished with 11 points and four assists on the night.
Missouri fought back to make it 23-17 with a little over eight minutes to play in the first half after sophomore guard Morgan Stock’s three-pointer.
From the 6:45 mark in the first half, the Gamecocks went on 23-6 run to close out the period.
Free throws and freshman center Alaina Coates’ inside presence helped build South Carolina’s first half lead to 23 points at halftime with a 48-25 score. Coates finished the day with 13 points, five rebounds and four blocks.
The Gamecocks held the advantage in points in the paint on the day with 36 to Missouri’s 16.
“I think we took advantage of our post players once again,” Mitchell said. “We knew they were going to sag off pretty hard on us and we still tried to execute and get the ball inside.”
In the second half, the Tigers were in the bonus by the 13:31 mark. It helped spark a 15-5 run by Missouri to start off the second half, dwindling South Carolina’s lead to 13 points with the score at 53-40.
A couple minutes later, Mitchell hit from beyond the arc to push the lead back up to 18.
Aside from a flurry of missed free throws (9-for-14 in the second half), things went relatively smooth for the Gamecocks the rest of the game.
Missouri’s leading scorer, senior forward Bri Kulas, had 21 points on the night, but did not get much help from her teammates besides junior guard Morgan Eye who chipped in with 14 points.
“Defensively, I think we executed our gameplan, taking away their strengths for the most part, closing out hard and not giving up any uncontested three-pointers,” Dozier said.
This is the third consecutive season in which South Carolina has reached 20 wins after the feat used to be hard to reach for the program.
The improvement has led many of Staley’s peers, including Missouri coach Robin Pingeton, to praise the South Carolina coach.
“Especially where South Carolina has come from, I hope to be one of the model programs that you could look at to see how we built it,” Staley said.
No. 17 Texas A&M narrowly lost to No. 16 Vanderbilt on Sunday to help push the Gamecocks into the SEC’s top spot. Mitchell and Dozier said they realize that the team has a target on its back now, but also understand the progress of the program over the past few years.
“I think we understand the history of the program and how far we’ve come,” Mitchell said. “So we’re just thankful to get to these 20 wins already.”