Dec. 16, 2011
Game Information
Date: Sunday, December 18, 2011
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Arena: Myrtle Beach Convention Center
Tickets: $10
TV: None
Radio: WISW 1320 AM (Brad Muller and Marcy Girton); GamecocksOnline.com
Live Stats: None
UNC Series: UNC leads 9-6; In Columbia: SC leads 2-1; In Chapel Hill: Tied 2-2; At Neutral Site: UNC leads 5-2
South Carolina Notables
- This is the Gamecocks’ 38th season as a varsity sport.
- South Carolina’s defense, rated second in the nation in points allowed, has yielded just 36.3 points per game over its last three outings. The three-game average is the second-lowest in school history, behind the 34.3 points per game allowed from Dec. 17-21, 2005.
- Freshman Aleighsa Welch has averaged 10.6 points and 6.6 rebounds over the last five games, shooting 75.0 percent during that span.
- After joining the 1,000-point club on Wednesday, senior La’Keisha Sutton four assists to become just the 11th player in school history to amass at least 1,000 points and 300 assists in her career. The last to reach both marks was Cristina Ciocan in the 2003-04 season.
Notes
A South Carolina Win Would…
- Make the Gamecocks 9-2 to start the season, the best mark since opening the 2002-03 campaign with a 13-1 mark.
- Be the Gamecocks’ sixth over a nationally ranked team under head coach Dawn Staley – the fourth in a game played outside Colonial Life Arena.
- Be head coach Dawn Staley’s 51st at South Carolina, moving her into sole possession of fourth place in school history for career wins. She would need 50 more to reach Pam Parsons in third place (101).
By the Numbers
3 Times this season that the Gamecock defense has reset the record for lowest opponent field goal percentage in the Dawn Staley era – most recently by limiting SC State to a school-record 12.5 percent shooting on Dec. 14
4 Assists away from 300 for senior guard La’Keisha Sutton, who would become the 15th Gamecock to hit that mark and the first since Cristina Ciocan in 2002-03
6 Categories in which South Carolina ranks among the SEC’s top five – all defensive stats (scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, 3-point field goal percentage defense, steals, turnover margin and blocked shots)
36.3 Points per game by South Carolina’s opponents over the last three outings (21 by SC State, 33 by Furman, 55 at NC State), the lowest three-game average since the 2005-06 squad limited SC State, Savannah State and Bethune-Cookman to just 34.3 points per game
45 Margin of victory over SC State, the most decisive win of the Dawn Staley era, resetting the mark set one game earlier against Furman
51.2 Percent of points scored by the bench, which includes six games of accounting for at least half of the team’s total points – at Illinois, vs. College of Charleston, vs. Presbyterian, at Xavier, at NC State and vs. SC State
52.6 Percent of this season’s made field goals that have been assisted, the highest mark of the Dawn Staley era – the previous high was last season’s 45.8 percent
204 Single games all-time in which the Gamecocks allowed at least as many points as this season’s team has yielded in the last three home games combined (78)
Last Time Out
South Carolina set a school record for fewest points allowed in a game in a 66-21 win over South Carolina State Wednesday afternoon. The game also saw senior guard La’Keisha Sutton record her 1,000th career point as she netted a total of 12 in the first half. The Gamecock defense was active early, holding the Lady Bulldogs to just eight points in the opening half. In all, SC State shot just 12.5 percent from the field, the lowest an opponent has shot in school history.
North Carolina Series Notes
North Carolina holds a 9-6 edge in the series with its border rival as the Tar Heels have won the last four meetings – in each of which they were ranked in the top 15 in the nation.
The two teams played four straight years in the Beach Ball Classic (now Carolina’s Challenge), and after a five-year hiatus, the teams renewed the rivalry in 2009. South Carolina’s lone win in the event came on Dec. 20, 2001, when the then-No. 23 Gamecocks upended then-No. 16 North Carolina 85-53.
Rating the Ranked
South Carolina is 50-189 against nationally ranked teams in its 38th season of women’s basketball. The Gamecocks have collected 28 of those 50 wins in Columbia, including 10 in Colonial Life Arena. South Carolina’s last win over a top-20 opponent was a 66-61 victory over then-No. 15 Kentucky in Columbia on Feb. 10, 2011. The Gamecocks’ last win over a ranked team away from Colonial Life Arena was a 73-70 upset of then-No. 22 Vanderbilt on Feb. 28, 2010.
The highest ranked team the Gamecocks have defeated in the Dawn Staley era was then-No. 14 Georgia on Feb. 25, 2010, when South Carolina left Athens with a 52-42 victory. In its basketball history, South Carolina’s highest-ranked victim was then-No. 3 Auburn, who the Gamecocks defeated 83-76 in Columbia on Dec. 29, 1990.
On Lock Down
In program history, only one season has seen a better three-game defensive performance than the Gamecocks have shown in their last three contests. The 36.3 points per game to which South Carolina has held its last three opponents – 55 at NC State, 33 to Furman and 21 to South Carolina State – is second only to the 2005-06 squad’s three-game average of 34.3 points. In three games played Dec. 17-21, 2005, South Carolina yielded 40 points to South Carolina State, 37 to Savannah State and 26 to Bethune-Cookman.
The defensive effort at home has been especially impressive this season as the Gamecocks have yielded just 37.7 points per game at Colonial Life Arena. In its last three home contests, South Carolina has given up just 78 total points (26.0 per game). Now in its 38th season of women’s basketball, the program has seen an opponent score at least 78 points in a single game 204 times.
Record Book Rewrite
The South Carolina defense has made its mark on the program’s record book just 10 games into the 2011-12 season. The Gamecocks have both tied and broken the previous record for fewest points allowed in a game – holding Presbyterian to 24 to tie the mark on Nov. 27 then limiting SC State to just 21 to reset the record on Dec. 14. Presbyterian’s 11 second-half points lowered that record by two, while SC State’s 13 in the second stanza tied the previous low. The Lady Bulldogs became just the fifth opponent in Gamecock history to fail to reach double figures in the first half, and they now hold the Gamecocks’ record for lowest opponent field goal percentage at 12.5 (6-of-48).
Hitting the High Marks
Just 8:40 into the 100th game of her career, senior guard La’Keisha Sutton netted her 1,000th career point on a trademark drive through the lane. With the effort, which ended with 12 points all scored in the first half against SC State on Dec. 14, Sutton became just the 27th player in South Carolina women’s basketball history to reach the milestone. Also in that contest, she became just the 48th Gamecock to play in 100 career games.
The Trenton, N.J., native needs just four assists to reach 300 for her career, another significant benchmark in South Carolina history. To this point, only 14 players have reached the mark with the last being Cristina Ciocan in the 2002-03 season. If Sutton achieves that feat as well, she will join Ciocan as one of 11 Gamecocks to ever reach both milestones in her career in the Garnet and Black.
