Women's Basketball . March 23, 2019

Women's Hoops Set for NCAA 2nd Round Sunday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – No. 15/18 South Carolina will take on No. 25/22 Florida State in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at 2 p.m. on Sun., Mar. 24, in Charlotte’s Halton Arena. The Gamecocks (22-9) were locked in defensively in Friday’s opening-round win over Belmont and will look to maintain that intensity against a young Seminole (24-8) squad that finished sixth in the ACC (10-6), including a win over NC State in early February.

SOUTH CAROLINA NOTABLES
• The Gamecocks are undefeated in NCAA Tournament first-round games under head coach Dawn Staley and have won two NCAA Tournament games in six of their previous seven appearances in the event.

• South Carolina’s 81.3 percent shooting in the third quarter of Friday’s win over Belmont was the third-best shooting quarter in program history, matching the 13-of-16 shooting performance in the third quarter of the Gamecocks’ 2017 NCAA Sweet 16 win over Quinnipiac.

• The Gamecocks shot over 55.4 percent from the field Friday against Belmont, the sixth time this season they have hit at least half of their field goal attempts. The effort included a perfect 5-of-5 outing for senior guard Doniyah Cliney, her third perfect shooting game this season when taking at least three shots.

• With the third of her six assists in Friday’s win over Belmont, junior point guard Tyasha Harris became the fifth Gamecock all-time to record 500 career assists. She is the first to do it prior to her senior year, hitting the mark in just her 104th career game. She needs just nine more to move into fourth place in program history, and the Gamecock record is 615 (Cristina Ciocan, 2001-04). Harris’ current 4.8 career assist average tops Ciocan’s 4.5 mark.

• No Gamecock appeared to have benefited from the rest between the SEC and NCAA Tournaments more than junior guard Te’a Cooper, who had played her two games back from an ankle injury at less than 100 percent health. The aggressive scorer and defender was active early and throughout her 27 minutes on the court, and scored in double figures for the first time since Feb. 11 on 58.3 percent shooting – her most efficient scoring game since an 8-of-10 outing at UConn (Feb. 11).

• Freshman guard Destanni Henderson drew the start in her NCAA Tournament debut and, like every other time Staley has put her in the starting lineup, she delivered. On Friday, she established and sustained the Gamecocks’ aggressive defense throughout her 25 minutes on the court.

BY THE NUMBERS
5 Gamecocks all-time with 500 career assists, including Tyasha Harris (503)

5 South Carolina games against ranked opponents this season that were decided by single digits

7 Different Gamecocks who average at least 17.9 minutes per game this season

8 Different Gamecocks who have started at least once in the last five games

15.1 Points per game against ranked opponents this season by Te’a Cooper

17 Points needed by Bianca Cuevas-Moore to reach 1,000 in her career

FLORIDA STATE SERIES NOTES
The Gamecocks and Seminoles have a long history from their shared days in the Metro Conference (1983-91). More recently, South Carolina’s best NCAA Tournament outcomes have come through Florida State.

In 2015, the #3 Gamecocks and #7 Seminoles squared off in the Greensboro Regional final, which South Carolina won 80-74 to advance to its the first Final Four in program history. The Gamecocks shot 54.2 percent in the second half to overcome a three-point halftime deficit. After the ninth time of the game at 67-67 with 2:42 to play, Tiffany Mitchell went on a personal 7-2 run over the next 2:00, and Asia Dozier hit four clutch free throws in the final 17 seconds to seal the victory.

In 2017, the two teams met again in the Elite 8 – this time in the Stockton Region. The #3 Gamecocks’ 60.0 percent first-half shooting established a 40-29 lead at the break, but they needed a strong finish after the #10 Seminoles closed within three, 65-62, with 3:26 to play. Tyasha Harris came up with a couple of timely rebounds to set up three points from Kaela Davis, and Harris went on to hit three free throws and swipe a steal in the final 11 seconds to send South Carolina back to the Final Four.

NIGHT AND DAY
You could use any number of idioms to describe the difference between the Gamecocks’ defense in their SEC Tournament loss to Arkansas and Friday’s NCAA Tournament win over Belmont.

After yielding allowing their second-most points of the season against Arkansas (95), the Gamecocks held Belmont to just 52 points – the lowest opponent total since Ole Miss scored just 42 on Feb. 7.

The Bruins entered Friday’s game with 10.4 made 3s per game, hitting 35.9 percent from beyond the arc for the season. The Gamecocks allowed just seven 3s – two of which came in the fourth quarter once the game was well in hand – on just 28.0 percent accuracy. The difference was ball pressure, which was extended and relentless, paired with excellent defensive rotation. It was the type of intensity Staley had stressed over the previous two weeks of practice, and her team delivered what was asked.

NCAA TOURNAMENT TALLY
South Carolina is in its 17th NCAA Tournament and eighth straight under head coach Dawn Staley, making this season’s senior class just the sixth in program history to play in the NCAA Tournament every season and the fourth straight to do so.

The Gamecocks are 29-14 overall in the NCAA Tournament with nine Sweet 16 appearances, four Elite 8 seasons, two Final Four showings and the 2017 National Championship.

In her 19th season as a head coach, Staley has taken a team to the NCAA Tournament 14 times. She is 23-12 at the event, including a 21-6 mark at South Carolina.

RANKED READINGS
With a 3-7 mark so far season, South Carolina is 62-59 against nationally ranked opponents under head coach Dawn Staley, although that record is skewed by the early seasons of her tenure.

The Gamecocks are 47-20 versus ranked foes since the start of the 2014-15 campaign. South Carolina is 18-15 against top-10 opponents during that time, including a 4-10 mark against top-five foes.

Junior guard Te’a Cooper is the leading scorer in the Gamecocks’ 10 games against ranked opponents with 15.1 points per game to go with 2.8 assists per game. With that combination of scoring and assisting, she has her hands on 21.6 points per game against ranked teams. Alexis Jennings’ team-high 7.8 rebounds per game against ranked foes are 1.6 more than her season average.