The South Carolina Gamecocks closed out their regular season on Sunday afternoon with a 60-56 win against the Kentucky Wildcats at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky. South Carolina has now won 12 of its last 13 games against Kentucky and is currently on a run of six wins in a row against the Wildcats.
This game was a war in the paint, and it got started immediately as South Carolina senior center Madina Okot got on the board after 12 seconds, and starting Kentucky bigs, senior forward Teonni Key and junior center Clara Strack, were also on the board early in the first quarter.
While South Carolina kept Okot fed with screen and roll opportunities and post touches, Kentucky used high-low actions and took advantage of South Carolina's defense switching off of screens to get mismatches against smaller South Carolina defenders, maximizing chances for Key and Strack.
But both teams' bigs had strengths outside the paint: Okot's 3-point shot has been a weapon for South Carolina, and she pops out beyond the arc to take shots from a distance. She was 2-2 from the 3-point line in conference play against Alabama, and 3-3 from beyond the arc against Ole Miss.
Key and Strack, despite largely stationing themselves in the low post, often float out to the short corner to shoot mid-range jumpers and take their defender off the dribble.
These approaches by both teams to feed their forwards and centers led to 7 first-quarter points and a made 3-pointer for Okot, 6 points for Strack and 2 points on five shot attempts for Key, who got many looks but was well contained by South Carolina.
The first quarter also featured many turnovers, and South Carolina had five of them. Eventually, senior guard Ta'Niya Latson took control for the Gamecocks, with two made baskets at the end to hand the Gamecocks a 19-13 lead.
The second quarter began with free throws for sophomore forward Joyce Edwards, who had a quieter night against the aggressive Kentucky paint defense. This aggression was evident in how often she was fouled. Edwards had seven free-throw attempts, which was the most of any player in the game.
Edwards, who leads the team in scoring with 19.8 points per game, had a cold night from the charity stripe and from the field, shooting 3-11 from the field and 3-7 from the line for 9 points in the game. Four of those points came in the second quarter.
The second quarter was defined by two runs: A 7-0 run by South Carolina, led by 4 points from Okot and a 3-pointer from junior guard Tessa Johnson, gave the Gamecocks a 28-15 lead, and an 8-0 Kentucky run cut a 33-19 deficit to 6 points by halftime.
The third quarter was also a quarter split in two parts: The first three and a half minutes featured two 3-pointers from junior guard Asia Boone and 4 points from Strack. During this stretch, Kentucky tied the game at 37.
In roughly the final five minutes of the quarter, South Carolina replied with a sweeping push of its own, with Tessa Johnson and senior guard Raven Johnson combining for 13 points, a bulk of those coming in a 9-0 run that started with 5:06 left.
The Johnson and Johnson tandem's work gave the Gamecocks a 54-41 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Strack and Key attempted to spark a comeback in the final quarter, scoring 12 of Kentucky's 15 fourth-quarter points. Most of those points came in the 8-0 run they led, which featured the forward-center duo doing what they did best to bring the score to 56-53.
Tessa Johnson brought the Gamecock lead back to 5 with a timely layup, but Strack responded with a jumper, and graduate guard Jordan Obi made a free throw to bring the lead to 2 points.
Key had a mismatch that was ideal for Kentucky and drove to the basket for the tie, but she missed the layup with 10 seconds left.
With South Carolina having the basketball and Kentucky needing to foul to keep the game alive, Kentucky defenders ended up being unable to contain Tessa Johnson, who slipped free of her defender and found Okot for a layup as time expired to reach the final score of 60-56.
At the end of the day, South Carolina did win the paint war: It led the scoring battle, with 36 paint points to Kentucky's 24, as well as the paint defense battle with 8 blocks.
But a battle that was lost was in the rebounding department, where Kentucky collected more total rebounds and offensive boards specifically, 15 to South Carolina's 11. South Carolina converted its offensive rebounds to points more often, with 14 second-chance points to Kentucky's 8.
Even though South Carolina did show resilience and composure, head coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks have a lot to reflect on and a lot of time to reflect on it. The SEC Tournament begins on March 4, but the team will suit up for its first game of the tournament on March 6.