Gamecock women's basketball dominated Thursday night in an 81-51 victory over the Auburn Tigers. Contributions from all 11 players powered the comfortable victory over the in-conference foe.
Similar to the team's most recent victory over No. 5 Vanderbilt, South Carolina started hot from the field. Shooting 68.8% (11-16) from the field, the consistency powered a 25-point first quarter that lifted the team to a quick 25-15 lead.
The Tigers were well held in check through 10 minutes, notching a success rate of just 22.2% (4-18) from the field. The Gamecocks earned three steals in the quarter, all by sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel. She was the first player off the bench for the team, and she scored 4 points in just five minutes of playing time in the first.
"She came in, and I just thought she elevated our play on both sides of the basketball," head coach Dawn Staley said. "She is young, but she is starting to mature and doing the things that we need point guards to do ... I'm proud of her."
After the two teams traded turnovers leading to points to begin the second, there weren't many more fireworks before halftime. Tiger freshman guard Harissoum Coulibaly scored a basket 23 seconds into the quarter, but Auburn didn't score again until there were under four minutes to play in the quarter. The 5:43 scoring drought was headlined by seven consecutive misses and five turnovers.
It wasn't just Auburn who fell cold; with 4:19 left before halftime, South Carolina was 1-6 in the quarter yet managed a 30-12 lead. Freshman guard Ayla McDowell helped the Gamecocks get rolling again when she hit a baseline jumper soon after a media timeout.
McDowell followed up McDaniel's three-steal first quarter with a two-steal second quarter of her own. She grabbed a steal just two possessions following her score.
"She's probably one of the most mentally strong individuals in our locker room," Staley said. "She doesn't know when she's gonna play, but when she does get out there, she gives the same effort, maximum effort all of the time."
South Carolina's final score of the first half was a 3-pointer by McDaniel to lift the team to a 38-16 lead at the break. The three-pointer was just her sixth of the season, bringing her to a perfect 3-3 from the field through two quarters. She also added two rebounds, two assists, and three steals in her ten minutes on the court.
Each team took 30 shots in the first half, and after a second rocky quarter, South Carolina's success rate from the field was at 50%. Auburn sat at 20%, having made just six shots in the game. To kickoff the second half, scoring efforts from sophomore forward Joyce Edwards with 8 and Tessa Johnson with 5 muted any attempt at a Tiger comeback. The team as a whole shot 69.2% (9-13) in the third, with 10 points coming off the bench.
Held to 30.8% (4-13) from the field, the Tigers were outscored 23-15 in the third and were down by 30 entering the fourth quarter at a score of 61-31. McDaniel notched her fourth steal of the game on the quarter's final possession.
Auburn kept pace with South Carolina to begin the fourth, with each team scoring 8 points through the first four minutes of the period. A near-double-digit scoring run by the Tigers quickly dissipated when Edwards converted an and-one to notch her 12th 20-plus point performance of the season.
Before freshman forward Alicia Tournebize scored her first points on the night at the 2:51 mark, she was the last remaining Gamecock yet to score in the game. Every player who saw minutes for South Carolina scored at least once. Every player also had at least two rebounds, excluding freshman guard Agot Makeer, who left the game with an injury in the first quarter.
The Gamecocks' bench scored 36 of the team's 81 total points. McDaniel finished with 9 points, six assists and four steals, while McDowell finished with 8 points, three steals and two rebounds. Senior forward Maryam Dauda notched 8 points and grabbed five rebounds in her 15 minutes on the court as well.
Despite the comfortable win, the Gamecocks were held below their season average of 89 points per game offensively. All five SEC teams to play Auburn on the road this season have fallen short of their average offensive output when playing the Tigers.
"They play hard every second and every minute," Staley said. "(Auburn head coach Larry Vickers) is a great coach ... the score got away, but the preparation for his team, you can see they run some great stuff."
Impressive defense wasn't enough to stop South Carolina's leading scorer, Edwards, who finished the game with a team-high 20 points and added five rebounds. She only trailed senior center Madina Okot, with six, for the most boards on the team.
In a game where South Carolina made 11 more shots than its opponent on five less attempts, the added juice from young bench contributors worked as a bonus, helping finish the job and earn the Gamecocks their seventh win in SEC play. They now sit in first place in the conference.