Colonial Life Arena hosted South Carolina and Tennessee as two Top-10 teams competed for a conference win.
When Dawn Staley came to Columbia, South Carolina to take over a dilapidated Gamecock women’s basketball program in 2008, nights like Monday night didn’t seem imaginable for a program that hadn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2003 prior to her arrival. A night when the Gamecocks would host another Top-10 opponent. A night when Colonial Life Arena was jam-packed and festive. A night when South Carolina would prove its place in the women’s basketball landscape against one of the sport’s best teams historically.
That type of night is now a reality. Staley’s mission at South Carolina (26-1, 14-0 SEC) is nowhere near complete, but the Gamecocks’ 71-66 win over No. 6 Tennessee (23-4, 13-1 SEC) leaves them atop the SEC regular season standings with just two games remaining, further evidence of the revitalization and makeover that’s taking place under their seventh-year head coach.
What Staley didn't imagine was her team almost blowing an 11-point second half lead and having to hold on for dear life against Tennessee, but that’s what South Carolina did.
Down by 10 points with just over five minutes remaining, the Lady Vols launched an incredible comeback attempt, but Tennessee lost its final chance when senior forward Cierra Burdick committed a turnover with eight seconds remaining with her team down by three points.
South Carolina junior guard/forward Asia Dozier then clinched the win with a pair of free throws.
“I was relieved,” Staley said. “Obviously Tennessee was a team that was going to come in here and fight and they were tremendous … I thought overall, if this game wasn’t played in Colonial Life Arena, we wouldn’t be sitting here as the victors.”
The battle for first place in the SEC was just what anyone would have expected from two of the nation’s best teams. Tennessee and South Carolina combined for 40 minutes of close, exciting and tension-filled basketball.
With South Carolina leading by only three points at halftime, a solid second half was needed for the Gamecocks to extend their winning streak at Colonial Life Arena to 31 games and that’s exactly what they got.
By crashing the boards to extend offensive possessions while locking down on defense, the Gamecocks were able to push past the eight-time national champions.
A pair of senior veterans helped the Gamecocks control the paint, which was where the game was decided. Whether it be with a critical basket or a big-time offensive rebound, senior power forward Aleighsa Welch and senior Elem Ibiam came up big for South Carolina.
Welch scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end.
Ibiam did most of her work in the first half, but finished with 12 points, shooting 66.6 percent from the field while coming down with eight rebounds.
Both players were freshmen when South Carolina last beat the Lady Vols in Feb. of 2012.
As a team, the Gamecocks out-rebounded Tennessee 46-33, which was one of the key differences in the game according to Tennessee head coach Holly Warlick.
“We didn’t have an answer for Welch on the boards,” Warlick said. “It just got magnified.”
Warlick continued to comment about the aggressiveness of the game, “You can’t give up 21 rebounds and expect to win the game."
Junior shooting guard Tiffany Mitchell also came alive during the second half for South Carolina and recorded 16 points.
Early on in the first half, South Carolina fed off the energy of its supporters and started off strong on offense, shooting 55 percent on its first 20 shot attempts. The Gamecocks led by as many as eight points in the first half.
But as expected, Tennessee put up the type of fight one would expect from the Lady Vols. Once again without injured senior center Isabelle Harrison, its leading scorer, Tennessee turned to junior forward Bashaara Graves to lead a well-balanced offense. Graves scored 20 points and Burdick added 16 as well.
At halftime, South Carolina led 36-33 after and close, intense and clean first half. Each time South Carolina tried to extend its lead to double-digits, the Lady Vols would claw their way back. Both teams did a solid job protecting the ball and combined to commit only 11 turnovers by night’s end.
Now ahead by one game in the SEC standings, the Gamecocks need to win just one of its remaining two games against Mississippi State and Kentucky to clinch at least a share of the regular season conference championship.
For Welch, the experience of beating Tennessee at home during her senior season is one that she’ll forever remember, especially because of the home atmosphere.
“Our fans were unbelievable,” Welch said. “ I think we don’t tell them enough as players how appreciated they are for us. I do believe that game could have gone either way if it wasn’t for our fans.”