After winning back-to-back home games against LSU and Vanderbilt, the South Carolina women’s basketball team now turns its attention to the final stretch of the regular season before the SEC tournament begins in early March.
South Carolina (24-1, 12-0 SEC) will visit Arkansas (15-9, 5-7 SEC) Thursday night, the first matchup between the two teams this season.
The Gamecocks’ win over Vanderbilt marked the team’s 30th consecutive win at Colonial Life Arena, a mark that head coach Dawn Staley seems amazed by, especially considering the state of the program when she took over in 2008.
“I lose track of the numbers, but our fans do a really good job at reminding us what the numbers are,” Staley said.
South Carolina’s victory against the Commodores also gave the Gamecocks 12 regular season SEC wins for just the second time in program history, with the first 12-plus conference win year coming last season. Although that achievement shows how South Carolina has evolved and grown under Staley, she’s not particularly focused on statistics and achievements.
“We’re really not looking at the record and it’s a great thing, but what our coaching staff is looking at is continuing to try and get better and do things the right way,” Staley said. “And try to figure out things in which we can put our team in the best possible position to get better and if we do that the wins will come.”
South Carolina junior guard Tiffany Mitchell and freshman guard/forward A’ja Wilson each continued their hot streaks in the Gamecocks’ latest win, with both players scoring an identical 20 points each. Thanks to that performance and her 26-point showing against LSU, Wilson was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for a record-tying fifth time.
Mitchell, the 2014 SEC Player of the Year, said she has enjoyed seeing Wilson, the Gamecocks’ second-leading scorer, get better as the Gamecocks near postseason play.
“It’s nice to see her grow each game,” Mitchell said.
As South Carolina continues to dominate opponents in conference play, many wonder what the Gamecocks’ main weakness is. The answer might be taking care of the ball. While Staley’s team forces 18 turnovers per game, South Carolina turns it over itself 14 times per game on average. Staley said that turnovers “are correctable.”
Arkansas, coached by former ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes, recently played at Auburn and took home a 54-36 victory. Winners of four of their last five games, the Razorbacks are currently seventh in the SEC standings. However, Arkansas is only 2-5 against ranked opponents this season. Likewise, the Razorbacks are also 2-5 in road SEC games.
The last time these two teams met was during 2013-14 season was in Columbia, South Carolina where the Gamecocks won 67-49.
This year, the Razorbacks are averaging 62.1 points per game, and a large amount of their production on offense falls on the shoulders of three players. Sophomore guard Kelsey Brooks leads Arkansas with 15 points per game, but sophomore forward Jessica Jackson (13.8 points per game) and senior forward Jhasmin Bowen (11.5 points per game) aren’t far behind.
South Carolina on the other hand is averaging about 78.2 points per game and its leading scorers are Mitchell and Wilson. Mitchell averages 15 points per game and Wilson scores 13.9 points on average.
After facing Arkansas, South Carolina returns home to face No. 6 Tennessee.