South Carolina women's basketball defeated No. 17 Ole Miss 85-48 on Sunday. With ESPN's "College GameDay" in attendance, the Gamecocks clinched the first seed in the SEC tournament with the win.
Sophomore forward Joyce Edwards kicked off the action, knocking down a mid-range jumper 12 seconds into the game. Mississippi senior forward Latasha Lattimore answered with a score of her own to tie the game at 2 after one possession each.
The two teams didn’t score again until after the 8-minute mark of the quarter, when the Rebels took the lead at 4-2. That would be Mississippi’s only lead of the day, as quick answers from senior center Madina Okot and Edwards retook the South Carolina lead at 6-4.
By the quarter’s midway point, South Carolina led 12-6. The team had earned 10 of its points in the paint. After a pair of free throws by Edwards with 2:23 remaining in the first, she had 10 of the team’s first 16 points.
Mississippi cut the lead to 2 points after a Gamecock turnover. The lead was pushed to 4 by the end of the quarter after a score by sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel earned a massive crowd pop. South Carolina led 20-16.
Both teams shot 50% or better in the period, and both teams saw most offensive success in the paint, with 28 of the game’s 36 points being scored down low. Edwards had 10 of the team’s 20 points in the quarter.
Just over three minutes into the second quarter, South Carolina pushed the lead to double figures for the first time at 30-20. Both Okot and senior guard Ta’Niya Latson knocked down triples.
Senior guard Raven Johnson notched three steals in the first half. The Gamecocks went on a 12-1 run over a 4:30 stretch, and by the quarter’s 3:57 mark, the team led 36-21.
Okot pushed the lead to 41-23 when she knocked down her second 3-pointer of the half. The Rebels had gone on a 7:04 field-goal drought before hitting a shot with a minute remaining in the first half.
South Carolina entered the second half with a 16-point lead at 41-25. The team outscored Mississippi 21-9 in the second quarter. The Rebels were 3-14 on shot attempts, good for 21.4% from the field.
Edwards' 12 points led the team, with Okot’s 10 not far behind. Raven Johnson had 6 points, along with three assists and three steals. Junior guard Tessa Johnson led the team with four rebounds, with the Gamecocks' 19 total boards topping Mississippi’s 13.
Tessa Johnson started the second half with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. A steal and score by Latson gave South Carolina its first 20-point lead of the day at 48-25. Edwards scored 4 points in just over two minutes to begin the third quarter.
The Gamecocks began the third quarter on a 15-3 scoring run. At the 4:42 mark, Mississippi had missed 10 consecutive shots and hadn’t scored in over four minutes. By the 1:17 mark of the period, the Rebels had made just one of their last 16 attempts.
Latson notched three steals in the period, and the team totaled six blocks, including two each from Okot and freshman forward Alicia Tournebize.
By the end of the quarter, South Carolina had pushed the game out of reach. The team led 66-34, with Mississippi shooting 15% over the game’s last 10 minutes. The Gamecocks outscored the Rebels 25-9 in the third.
Okot knocked down a career-high third 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. She scored the team’s first 5 points of the period. Across the Gamecocks’ last two games, she has knocked down a team-high five 3-pointers, shooting 100% from beyond the arc in the process.
South Carolina wrapped up the victory with a 19-14 fourth quarter. Rebels’ senior forward Cotie McMahon, who entered the matchup averaging a team-high 20.7 points per game, was held to zero points from the field during the game.
The Gamecocks clinched a share of the SEC regular season title for the fifth consecutive year. With a win over Missouri on Thursday, South Carolina will earn the title exclusively.