South Carolina’s women’s basketball team won their sixth SEC basketball tournament championship in the past seven years with a 67-62 win over the Georgia Bulldogs at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC.
The game was historical. It was the first time that two black female head coaches, Dawn Staley and Joni Taylor, had ever met for the SEC Tournament Championship. Staley and Taylor consider each other “extended family” because Taylor’s husband, Darius, is a former assistant coach under Staley. Sunday was also Taylor’s birthday.
Georgia led for most of the first half before South Carolina tied it at 35-35 on a three-point shot from Zia Cook at the buzzer. The Gamecocks scored a basket to take the lead with 3:08 remaining in the third quarter and went on a 9-0 run to pull away from the Bulldogs.
During the run, Brea Beal earned a free throw by running the court, then ran the court again for a layup. She also helped force a turnover and then drilled a jump shot to end the quarter. Beal only had seven points, but combined with four rebounds, three blocks and stout defense, she made a huge contribution toward the outcome. All but one of South Carolina’s 15 fourth quarter points were scored by either Destanni Henderson (six) or Aliyah Boston (eight). Victoria Saxton had the other point.
The Bulldogs were able to make it close at the end, but Carolina was able to make the big plays and made18-25 free throws to seal the win. South Carolina has now won 14 consecutive over Georgia.
The championship game at times looked like basket brawl instead of basketball, as both teams played very physical. A combined 33 fouls were called in the game. This was a new style of play for South Carolina as they struggled with finding their identity during the regular season. At times this season, the Gamecocks were criticized for playing too soft, and for just wanting to be friends with everyone, but that all changed during the tournament. During the three games in the tournament, the Gamecock women played with a different attitude and a nasty streak, playing physical, aggressive basketball.
Boston talked about the big change in the Gamecocks’ style of play.
“Yeah, in the Alabama game I would say that coach, she told us nice teams cannot win championships. They can’t even win SEC championships. I think that right there kind of set it off a little bit. We said, ‘You know what, guys, we need to bring this energy the entire game.’ Teams are going to be physical. We know they’re going to be coming after us. We just have to stand our ground and be ready for it,” Boston said.
After the game when Staley was asked about the new mental toughness that her team displayed, she said, “I mean, you just don’t get rid of niceness over a weekend (smiling). Nastiness is a lifestyle really. Nice, nasty, that balance of doing it that way. I’m just happy to see that it’s in there, like it’s in our players. As coaches, we have to pull that out of them or else they’re just going to be comfortably in their skin. That’s not the way the world works because more times than not, nice people finish maybe not last place, but surely not first place.”
The second-seeded Gamecocks entered the tournament as an underdog for the first time this season after losing to Texas A&M last week in the regular season. The Gamecocks (22-4), twice this season the country’s No. 1 team, struggled down the stretch with three losses in their last seven games. South Carolina was able to turn things around in a big way at the SEC Tournament defeating nationally ranked teams along the way. It used a big early run to put away Alabama on their way to a 75-63 win. In the semifinal game, Carolina got revenge for a regular season loss at Tennessee, snapping a 31-game winning streak in SEC play, with a physical 67-52 victory over the Lady Vols.
The Lady Bulldogs advanced to the championship game for the first time since 2004 by cruising past Kentucky, 78-66, in the quarterfinals and then pulled off the upset of the tournament by outlasting No. 2 ranked, and regular season champion, Texas A&M, 74-68, in the semifinals.
Tournament MVP Boston finished with 27 points (one off her career-high), 10 rebounds, and four blocks. For the tournament, she averaged 19.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, while shooting 66% from the floor and 81% on free throws.
“My teammates did a great job of finding me the ball. I had to be strong with my finishes,” Boston said. “As the game went on, it was easier.”
“Aliyah Boston was huge today. She has to be that dominant for us to win these types of games,” Staley said. “They single covered her. We’ve been chomping at the bit for single coverage and she made them pay.”
Henderson stepped up in the second half, scoring 12 of her 18 points after the break. Henderson also collected nine rebounds in addition to her three assists and a block, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team for the second consecutive season.
Cooke scored eight points in the title game to finish averaging 15.7 points per game at the event to also earn All-Tournament accolades.
The rest of the All-Tournament team included Maya Caldwell and Jenna Staiti from Georgia, and Rhyne Howard from Kentucky.
Both teams now await the NCAA tournament selection show on March 15 at 7:00 pm on ESPN. South Carolina is projected to be a No. 1 seed in the tournament.
Get the postgame recap HERE
