Feb. 6, 2012

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senior guard Markeshia Grant has been named AgSouth Athlete of the Week.

The Gamecocks’ top scorer poured in a career-high 27 points in South Carolina’s first win over Tennessee in Knoxville Thursday night. Grant’s seven 3-pointers in the outing were two shy of the school record.

Grant hit the first of her career-best seven 3s in the game’s first minute and piled up 15 of the team’s 29 first-half points. She capped her scoring with a 3-pointer in transition that brought the Gamecocks within two points with 3:59 to play. Grant finished the game shooting 7-of-12 from behind the arc and 10-of-21 overall.

Over the last four games, Grant has shot 44.4 percent from 3-point range to move into 11th in the SEC in 3-point percentage in league games and second in 3-pointers made per conference contest (2.1). She has made 4.0 3-pointers per game during that stretch as well to average 18.0 points per game.

Last week’s win was the Gamecocks’ fourth straight in league play, the longest since 2005-06, and the first over Tennessee since January 1980. The team’s 18 wins this season matches the most of the Staley era, and the Gamecocks have six regular-season games left on the schedule.