The No. 3 South Carolina Gamecocks finished their regular season at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky, with a gritty 60-56 victory against the No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats.
In the first quarter, both teams started off by feeding their forwards and centers, and senior center Madina Okot scored the opening basket. Kentucky responded with a basket from senior forward Teonni Key.
Senior guard Raven Johnson hit a 3-pointer to give South Carolina a 7-6 advantage, and Kentucky senior forward Amelia Hassett cashed in a 3-pointer to erase it. Sophomore forward Joyce Edwards made one of two free throws after getting fouled on the fast break, then made an and-one layup but missed the free throw.
The two ranked teams continued to trade jabs until senior guard Ta'Niya Latson drove into the paint for a layup and nailed a mid-range jumper off of a screen to give the Gamecocks a 19-13 lead to end the first quarter.
The second quarter started off strong for South Carolina, as Edwards made a pair of free throws to extend the Gamecocks' lead to 8.
Senior guard Tonie Morgan scored to keep Kentucky within reach, but a 7-0 run from the Gamecocks, which included 4 points from Okot and a 3-pointer from junior guard Tessa Johnson, built the lead back up to 13 points at 28-15.
Okot led the Gamecocks in scoring for the first half, with 11 points, along with nine rebounds.
Jumpers from junior center Clara Strack and graduate guard Jordan Obi helped give Kentucky a chance to get back toward a single-digit deficit, but a step-back 3-pointer from Latson helped the Gamecocks pull away again, giving South Carolina a 33-19 advantage.
Kentucky's offense surged to an 8-0 run to suddenly trim South Carolina's 14-point lead down to 6 in the last three minutes of the half.
Strack and Hassett were key players for Kentucky in the first half, with Strack logging 10 points and five rebounds, and Hassett with 6 points, shooting 2-3 from the 3-point line. The Gamecocks went into halftime up 33-27.
The third quarter opened with a 3-pointer from junior guard Asia Boone, and after trading baskets, a Strack jumper and another Boone 3-pointer tied the game at 37 with 6:42 left in the quarter.
A pair of Okot layups gave the Gamecocks some breathing room, and even though a Morgan layup shrank the Gamecock lead, a 9-0 run led by Tessa Johnson and Raven Johnson increased the Gamecock advantage to 50-39.
Tessa Johnson was 3-4 from the field, one of those being a 3-pointer, for 7 points, and Raven Johnson was a perfect 3-3 for 6 points in the third quarter. These efforts helped South Carolina enter the fourth quarter up 54-41.
Boone then opened the fourth quarter with a made jumper, this time from 2-point range. A Strack 2-point jumper followed, and Kentucky's late comeback attempt began.
Okot replied to the Strack jumper with a layup with 6:30 left on the clock to keep the lead in double digits at 56-45. It was the only basket made by the Gamecocks for the next three minutes.
In this time, Strack and Key scored two baskets each in an 8-0 run that brought Kentucky's deficit down from 11 to 3 points.
After being 0-5 in the second and third quarters, Key was 2-3 for 4 points in the fourth quarter. In addition to Key finding her shooting touch, Strack, who already had 16 points going into the fourth quarter, was 4-5 for 8 points in the final frame.
A free throw from Obi cut the lead to only 2 points with 59 seconds left in the game. Kentucky had a chance to tie, but Key missed the potential game-typing layup with 10 seconds left.
Then, after several foul attempts to stop the clock, Okot got free on a South Carolina in-bounds play as time expired and made a layup to secure a 60-56 win over Kentucky.
What's next?
South Carolina will play its first game of the SEC Tournament on March 4 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.