Jan. 30, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 4/4 South Carolina fell to Tennessee 76-74 after seeing its furious fourth-quarter rally fall short Monday night at Colonial Life Arena. The result marked the first loss in SEC play for the Gamecocks, who now sit at 8-1 in league action and 18-2 overall. The Lady Vols moved to 14-7 and 5-3 in conference play with the win.
Junior guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore scored eight of her team-high 18 points for the Gamecocks in the final 1:20 of the game, while junior forward A’ja Wilson totaled 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting after battling foul trouble all night. Guard Kaela Davis chipped in 15 points and knocked in two of Carolina’s five 3-pointers, and fellow junior Allisha Gray added 14. Cuevas-Moore finished the night 8-of-9 from the line for a Carolina team that converted 13 of its 17 free throw attempts.
Tennessee’s hot shooting at the start of the fourth quarter established a double-digit for the Lady Vols before the Gamecocks rallied to get within a point at 72-71 with 24 seconds to play. The response was sparked by Carolina’s frontcourt, and two baskets down low from Wilson and a bucket from the paint by senior center Alaina Coates made it 69-64 Tennessee with 2:24 to play in the contest. Cuevas-Moore’s late-game magic brought the Gamecocks closer, and her 3-pointer from the left corner a minute later put Carolina down just two at 71-69. A missed free throw from Lady Vols forward Jaime Nared kept it a one-possession game, and two shots from the charity stripe by Cuevas-Moore made it 72-71 Tennessee with 24 seconds to go. The junior guard again answered the call on Carolina’s next possession, pulling up from straight away to knock down another 3-pointer and even the score at 74 with 15 seconds remaining. The Lady Vols went ahead 76-74 on their final possession when a foul led to two free throws by Nared with five seconds left, and they clinched the victory when Cuevas-Moore’s desperation 3-pointer with seconds remaining missed.
Monday’s contest featured a back-and-forth pace in the early going with seven lead changes in the opening five minutes. Five Gamecocks registered a field goal during the stretch, and Wilson’s second jumper of the first period gave Carolina a 15-14 lead midway through the quarter. The junior’s hot shooting start continued with a basket from the top of the free throw line, and a three-point play from Gray on the Gamecocks’ next trip down the floor pushed the Carolina advantage to 21-14 with 3:49 remaining in the period. Cuevas-Moore became the sixth Carolina player to tally points in the quarter, as she converted a three-point play on an acrobatic layup from the left side that made it 25-17 late in the period. The Gamecocks closed the quarter on a 13-6 run to establish a 26-20 lead as the two teams headed to the first break. Wilson totaled eight points in the first 10 minutes after shooting 4-of-5 from the floor.
With Wilson and Coates in foul trouble to start the second period, Carolina’s backcourt picked up the scoring out of the break. Two free throws from Cuevas-Moore put the Gamecocks in front 28-22, and a 3-pointer from freshman guard Tyasha Harris gave Carolina a 34-21 advantage with 6:54 left in the first half. The Lady Vols chipped away at the lead throughout much of the quarter before evening the score at 33 on a jumper from Tennessee redshirt junior guard Diamond DeShields with less than four minutes to play in the period. The Gamecocks managed just three field goals in the quarter, and all 10 of their points in the period came from their guards. DeShields and Nared reached double figures by the half for the Lady Vols, who ended the second quarter an on 11-3 run to grab a 39-36 lead through 20 minutes.
The Gamecocks needed just 47 seconds out of the half to regain the lead, as Davis 3-pointer from the left corner followed by another jumper from the guard made it 41-39 Carolina. The game remained a one-possession contest over the next three minutes until a foul on Wilson followed by a technical foul on the junior led to four-straight free throws for the Lady Vols that resulted in a 46-43 Tennessee lead with 6:13 remaining in the third quarter. Carolina’s defense stood tall in her absence, and Tennessee missed 11 of its first 12 shots to start the period and finished the quarter with just three baskets. A put-back bucket from Gray awakened the crowd at Colonial Life Arena and put the Gamecocks back in front at 48-46 midway through the quarter, and the guard continued to make plays when she found Cuevas-Moore in transition for a layup that made in 50-46 Carolina with 2:26 left to play in the period. Two from the charity stripe from Cuevas-Moore and a free throw from Coates marked the final three points for the Gamecocks, and Carolina took a 53-52 lead into the fourth quarter.
Davis again provided the spark for the Gamecocks out of the final break with a three-point play from the left block that answered a 4-0 Tennessee run to start the quarter and evened the game at 56. The Lady Vols, who opened the period 7-of-8 of the floor, answered with an 11-0 run to make it 67-56 with 7:20 left in the game, and they again made it an 11-point game at 69-58 when DeShields knocked down a jumper.
The Gamecocks held the Lady Vols to three 3-pointers and shot 45.9 percent from the floor. Tennessee boasted a 38-26 advantage in points in the paint, while Carolina held a 36-28 advantage on the glass.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Dawn Staley
On how Carolina will bounce back after the loss
“We have no choice. We have to go to Kentucky and play on the road. And we will. We’re resilient, and this is a team that really has not lost a whole lot of games. There’s a reason why where we are because we’re resilient. We’re tough, and we bounce back. You’ll see a team that takes the floor on Thursday that is ready to get back to their winning ways.”
KEY STAT
The Lady Vols took advantage of Alaina Coates and A’ja Wilson’s limited time on the court, outscoring the Gamecocks 38-26 in the paint. Monday marked the first time the Gamecocks were outscored in the paint in SEC play this season.
NOTABLES
- The loss to the Lady Vols snapped Carolina’s 30-game home winning streak over SEC opponents.
- The Gamecocks made seven of their final nine field goals and shot 50.0 percent from the floor in the second half.
- Monday marked the second time junior Bianca Cuevas-Moore has led Carolina in scoring this season. The guard has knocked down multiple 3-pointers in five of nine SEC games on the year.
- Junior guard Allisha Gray has reached double figures in each of her last seven games.
UP NEXT
The Gamecocks travel to Kentucky to face the Wildcats on Thu., Feb. 2, for the first of two-straight SEC road contests. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game can be seen on SEC Network.
