The South Carolina women's basketball team will compete for a chance to play in the SEC Championship after a 87-64 victory over Kentucky on Friday in Greenville, South Carolina, at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
The Gamecocks defeated the Wildcats for the second time in six days, improving their margin of victory of 4 points on Sunday to 23 on Friday. The team capitalized off forced turnovers and dominated in the paint to earn the win.
After scoring a season-low 60 points on Sunday, South Carolina was able to get going early in Friday's matchup. The Gamecocks scored 22 points in each the first and second quarter and protected the basketball in the process; they totaled just three turnovers and forced 10 Kentucky turnovers in the first half.
South Carolina led points off turnovers 13-2 at the half. The team won the turnover battle 6-2 in the second quarter, and after entering the quarter with a 6-point lead, exited up by 17.
Senior center Madina Okot helped the team dominate down low as well; she had already notched a double-double by halftime with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Her first half performance helped power a team halftime advantage in rebounds, second-chance points and points in the paint.
Okot also grabbed two steals on defense, joining sophomore forward Joyce Edwards and sophomore guard Maddy McDaniel with two steals each. At halftime, the Gamecocks earned seven total steals to the Wildcats one.
The team honed in on defending junior center Clara Strack, who scored 24 points on 11-19 shooting against the team on Sunday. In the first half against the Gamecocks on Friday, she was held to 6 points, shooting 50% from the field with three rebounds.
"The best way for us to win the game is just kind of cut Strack's production in half," head coach Dawn Staley said.
South Carolina did in fact cut Strack's production in half, and then some. She finished with 11 points on the day and was held to only eight total shot attempts. She turned the ball over five times, the most of any player in the game.
"We executed better today," Staley said. "I thought we did a really good job at digging in and closing out to the shooters and just giving Strack a much different look than she got on Sunday."
Given the lead the Gamecocks had built in the first two quarters, the team wasn't affected when Kentucky was able to keep pace in the second half.
The Gamecocks scored 8 of its 24 total points in the third quarter off turnovers and held the Wildcats under 50% shooting for the second consecutive quarter. Kentucky posted more turnovers than South Carolina in each of the first three quarters.
The Wildcats shot 5-6 from the 3-point line in the fourth quarter, but offensive surges by senior guard Ta'Niya Latson and freshman guard Agot Makeer helped ensure the Gamecocks' lead didn't fade.
By the game's final buzzer, South Carolina had vastly outnumbered Kentucky in steals at 10-3, with both McDaniel and Okot finishing with three. The game was also one-sided in the paint, with the Gamecocks outscoring the Wildcats 46-24 down low.
Okot's 12-point, 13-rebound double-double was her 21st of the season, a total that leads the SEC and ranks third in the country this season. She also moves into a tie for the fourth most double-doubles in program history.
South Carolina was able to take its starters out of the game for a large portion of the fourth quarter, something Edwards felt will benefit the team.
"Obviously, the SEC is hard," Edwards said. "We have hopefully two games coming up, ... so we know rest is really important in order for us to get a big lead like that. It's a great opportunity to rest and recover."
As the first seed in the tournament, the Gamecocks have won eight tournament championships and are now 31-1 all-time from that position. This will be the team's sixth straight season advancing to the SEC Tournament semifinals.
South Carolina will play LSU at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Tigers defeated Oklahoma on Friday to advance to the semifinals against the Gamecocks. In the two teams' only matchup of the regular season, the Gamecocks earned a 79-72 victory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.