Women's Basketball . March 7, 2025

No. 5 South Carolina moves on to SEC Semifinals with win over Vanderbilt

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Chloe Kitts had 25 points and 10 rebounds and No. 5 South Carolina held off a furious second-half rally from Vanderbilt to win 84-63 on Friday in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.

MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 15 off the bench and Sania Feagin added 13 points for South Carolina (28-3), which has won five straight.

Coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks, the Southeastern Conference’s top seed, appeared plenty motivated to win a third straight tournament title. They came out of the gates strong, shooting a blistering 67% from the field in the first half to build a 48-23 lead at the break.

But the Commodores, behind stars Mikayla Blakes and Khamil Pierre, would battle back to cut the lead to five with 4:22 left. The Gamecocks would regroup and outscore the Commodores 16-0 the rest of the way to move on to a semifinal matchup with the No. 12 Kentucky/No. 10 Oklahoma winner.

Vanderbilt (22-10), which knocked off 18th-ranked Tennessee 84-76 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals, got 20 points from Blakes and 17 from Pierre.

Notables

South Carolina advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinals for the sixth straight season and the 12^th time under Dawn Staley.
Defense was the name of the game in the second quarter, with the Gamecocks holding Vanderbilt to just eight points on 3-of-17 shooting.

The Gamecock offense exploded in the fourth quarter after the Commodores got things within five points, going on an 18-3 run that pushed South Carolina to the comfortable victory.

South Carolina dominated the paint, outscoring Vanderbilt by 30, 58-28.

Chloe Kitts continued her hot streak, nabbing her third consecutive double-double with a career-high 25 points and 10 boards. Kitts shot 12-for-14 from the floor, highlighted by her own 7-0 run in the fourth quarter that put the Gamecocks back on top by double-figures.

MiLaysia Fulwiley finished with her 20th game in double-figures, posting 15 points with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to round out the first quarter in addition to grabbing a team-high four steals.