Dec. 5, 2008
Post-Game Press Conference 
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COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s basketball used a 15-0 second-half run sparked by aggressive defense and solid work on the glass to claim a 73-52 win over High Point tonight at Colonial Life Arena. The Gamecocks (4-3) scored a season-high 73 points with senior Demetress Adams leading four players in double figures with 16 points to go with 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Sophomore Jewel May recorded her first career double-double with 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
The teams were tied at halftime after each team put together a significant run. The Gamecocks had the lead early but saw High Point put together an 11-2 surge to move ahead and extend its lead to nine at 28-19 on LaTeisha Dean’s 3-pointer from the top of the key with 5:08 left in the period. C.J. Pace answered with a three of her own to kick off an 8-0 rally. Adams added a pair of layups, and Brionna Dickerson swiped a steal and hit a jumper to knot the game at 28-28 with 2:55 on the clock. Adams and High Point’s Shamia Brown traded jump shots just before the end of the half.
High Point was quicker out of the locker room and built a five-point lead at 39-34 less than four minutes into the half. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley went to her bench and asked her team to turn up the defensive pressure. Dickerson kicked off the spurt with a 3-pointer from the right wing, and freshman LaKeisha Sutton picked up a steal and hit a 3-pointer of her own from the left sideline to put the Gamecocks back on top 40-39.
The 15-0 run, which lasted just three minutes, continued thanks to the Panthers recording more turnovers (four) than shots (two, both misses). Sutton made the difference on both ends of the floor as she was disruptive in the backcourt and accounted for eight points during the spurt, most of which came on layups after the Gamecocks broke the Panthers’ press. Dickerson capped the run with a long jumper from the right baseline to give South Carolina a decisive 52-39 lead with 12:46 left in the game.
With the game in hand, the Gamecocks’ lone scare came when Adams went down in a battle for a rebound with nine minutes left in the game. She suffered only a leg cramp as a result of the pile-up in the lane.
Joining Adams and Pace in double-figure points were Sutton and Dickerson, who scored 11 each. Pace added seven points and eight rebounds. Of Adams’ 11 rebounds, six came on the offensive end. Lauren Falohun handed out a career-high nine assists, more than double her previous career mark.
The Gamecocks have 11 days between games as they work through exams before returning to the court to play USC Upstate on Dec. 16, at 5:30 p.m. in the first half of another doubleheader with the men’s team at Colonial Life Arena.
