Women's Basketball . December 16, 2020

Women's Hoops Back in Action Thursday

#5/4 SOUTH CAROLINA (4-1) VS. TEMPLE (0-2)
7 p.m. | COLUMBIA, S.C. | COLONIAL LIFE ARENA (3,500)

ABOUT THIS GAME

Both teams will be wearing special face coverings for tonight’s game as a show of support for Khadija Bowens, who played for Dawn Staley at Temple, as she battles ovarian cancer. For more on Khadija’s journey, visit OwlSports.com to find the Nov. 10 story on her.
Tonight marks the fifth time Staley has squared off against the program at which she began her coaching career. She and the Gamecocks have won each of the previous four meetings.
This is the Gamecocks’ last game before the holiday break; and Temple is the opponent in that game for the third time in the last four seasons. South Carolina has lost its final game before the break just once in the Staley era (85-93 vs. #9 North Carolina, 12/20/09).

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

South Carolina’s work on the glass has been strong on both ends of the court. The Gamecocks lead the SEC in defensive rebounds per game (33.8) and are pulling down 74.8 percent of their opponents’ missed shots. On the offensive end, South Carolina is second in the league and 20th in the nation with 17.8 offensive rebounds per game, corralling 44.7 percent of their missed shots. Those percentages translate in 17.0 second-chance points per game for the Gamecocks, who are allowing opponents just 5.6 second-chance points per game.
The Gamecocks are annually among the nation’s best at getting to the free throw line. This season, they average 28.2 free throw attempts, which is second in the country behind SEC-rival Arkansas, which is making 28.5 trips to the line per game.
After her team’s first loss in more than a year, Staley held nothing back in her evaluation of the performance against then-#8/6 NC State (Dec. 3). She also went back to the playbook to devise a new plan to create better flow for the offense as a whole and for individual players. The results were immediately evident in a commanding win at then-#23/18 Iowa State. The Gamecocks shot 47.6 percent from the field, including 13-of-26 of 3-point range, doubling their made 3s total for the season.
Sophomore Zia Cooke is 20 points away from reaching 500 in her career. Reaching it tonight would make her the fastest to that mark since A’ja Wilson hit the mark in her 38th career game (2015-16). In Gamecock history, 39 games is the eighth fastest to reach 500 points. Katrina Anderson was the quickest to the benchmark, reaching it in the 23rd game of her career. Current sophomore Aliyah Boston is also closing in on the mark at 467 career points.

BY THE NUMBERS

3 South Carolina’s three games against ranked opponents this season are tied with DePaul for the most among teams in the most recent AP Top 25.

8 Eight Gamecocks have blocked at least one shot this season, helping South Carolina lead the SEC and rank 12th in the country with 6.8 blocks per game.

10.7 Sophomore Brea Beal has been heating up over the last three games, all against ranked opponents, averaging 10.7 points 54.5 percent shooting and 5.0 rebounds.

10.8 South Carolina has out-scored its opponents in the 3rd quarter by an average of 10.8 points. The Gamecocks average 25.6 points on 57.5 percent shooting in the 3rd.

13 The Gamecocks’ 13 made 3s at Iowa State (Dec. 6) are half of the team’s total made 3s so far this season.

17.0 The Gamecocks average 17.0 second-chance points per game this season, including 13.0 in their three games against ranked opponents.