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Top-10 Match-Up In SEC Tournament Semis Saturday
Women's Basketball  . 

Top-10 Match-Up In SEC Tournament Semis Saturday

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 5/5 South Carolina will take on No. 10/10 Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in Greenville, S.C.

Gamecock Notables

  • South Carolina’s 10 wins over ranked opponents include five against top-10 foes – both numbers lead the nation.

  • The Gamecock bench leads the nation with 41.4 points per game, which accounts for 51.3 percent of the total offense. South Carolina’s starters have lifted their scoring by 3.4 points per game to average 42.6 points over the last five outings.

  • After struggling in the third quarter against Vanderbilt on Friday, the Gamecocks turned in their best shooting quarter in program history, hitting 10-of-11 from the field for 90.9 percent over the final 10 minutes to turn back the Commodores.

  • Forward Chloe Kitts has been the Gamecocks’ top scorer and rebounder over the last three games, posting three straight double-doubles to average 17.7 points and 11.0 rebounds and shooting 64.7 percent over the stretch. The numbers drop off only slightly over the last five to 13.4 points and 10.4 rebounds per game on 61.4 percent shooting.

  • SEC Sixth Woman of the Year and Second-Team All-SEC selection MiLaysia Fulwiley has brought both flash and substance in the final weeks of the season. The team’s top scorer over the last five games at 14.6 points per game on 50.0 percent shooting in addition to her 2.2 steals per game in that stretch. She has scored in double figures in 10 of the last 11 games, including four games of at least 15 points.

  • Senior Sania Feagin has had the hot hand over the last three games, pouring in 14.3 points per game (second on the team) on 76.0 percent shooting in addition to reeling in 6.3 rebounds per game in that period.

  • First-Team All-SEC forward Joyce Edwards is the team’s top scorer at 13.0 points per game on 55.6 percent shooting.  Her 22 games in double-figure points leads the team, and she’s been the team’s top scorer a team-high 13 games, including six against ranked opponents.

  • Second-Team All-SEC guard Te-Hina Paopao’s 10.1 points per game include 11.5 per game against ranked opponents. Her team-high 3.1 assists per game have delivered another 7.0 points per game for the Gamecocks, and her 2.57 assist-to-turnover ratio is 12th in the nation.

 

By the Numbers
4 – Four Gamecocks averaged at least 10 points over the last five games.

19 – Including today’s game, South Carolina has 19 Quad 1 games – most in the nation – with a 15-3 record in those outings.

16-2 – The Gamecocks are 16-2 in SEC Tournament games played in Greenville.

 

The Oklahoma Series
The Gamecocks are 1-3 all-time against the Sooners, including a 1-1 mark in the Dawn Staley era (beginning 2008-09).

In their regular season meeting on Jan. 19, South Carolina overwhelmed Oklahoma right out of the gate in a 101-60 victory in Columbia. The Gamecocks led 28-9 after the opening 10 minutes and never looked back. Five Gamecocks finished in double figures, including three off the bench.

 

The Staley File
In her 25th season as a head coach, Dawn Staley has a .772 (640-189) winning percentage, which ranks eighth in the nation among active head coaches with at least 15 years of experience and 10th all-time.

Staley is one of just two women’s basketball coaches to lead their teams to multiple 40-game win streaks in NCAA history with the Gamecocks’ recent program-record 43-game streak ranking seventh longest in NCAA history. She is the first Black head coach to win multiple national championships in men’s or women’s basketball, the fifth women’s coach to win at least three NCAA titles and one of just 11 men’s or women’s coaches to hit that mark.

Now in her 17th season with the Gamecocks, Staley is the program’s all-time winningest coach (468) with a program-record 13 postseason appearances. She accounts for all six of the Gamecocks’ Final Four appearances (2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and the only NCAA National Championships in program history (2017, 2022, 2024).

Staley’s nine SEC regular-season championships trail only Pat Summitt’s 16 in league history, and her seven SEC Coach of the Year awards trails Summitt’s league record by just one. Staley’s 214 SEC regular-season wins are the most among active league coaches and third all-time – behind just Summitt (Tennessee, 306) and Andy Landers (Georgia, 273). She was the second-fastest to the 200-win mark in league history with her 255 games trailing Summitt’s mark of 229. Staley’s .793 SEC winning percentage (214-56) is second only to Summitt (.874) among coaches in the league at least five seasons. She owns the SEC record for consecutive regular-season conference victories with a 57-game streak that began in the 2021-22 season and ended in 2024-25.

 

All About Balance
Like last season, South Carolina’s greatest asset is its depth with nine Gamecocks averaging at least 18.0 minutes. Seven average at least 7.0 points, including four who average double figures. Eleven Gamecocks have scored in double figures at least once, including five who have done it at least 12 times, and six players have led the team in scoring at least twice.

Five players have grabbed at least 4.0 rebounds per game, and four have had at least one double-digit rebounding game this season. Six have led the team in rebounding at least once.

 

Glass Work
South Carolina continues to show a full team rebounding effort, ranking ninth in the nation with 42.6 rebounds per game and 16th in rebounding margin (+8.0).

South Carolina’s 39.4 offensive rebounding percent is 13th in the nation, according to CBBanalytics.com, and their 14.4 offensive boards per game are 26th. The Gamecocks are 10th in the nation in second-chance points, averaging 14.9 on the season, meaning they score 1.03 points per offensive board.

Five Gamecocks average at least four boards on the season with junior Chloe Kitts leading the way at 8.0 to rank ninth in the SEC. Junior Ashlyn Watkins is second with 6.07, and freshman Joyce Edwards is next at 4.9. Sania Feagin rounds out the forwards with 4.6 per game (5.0 vs. ranked teams), and Raven Johnson leads the guards with 4.2.

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