Gamecocks Head to Sixth Straight SEC Championship
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Joyce Edwards scored 21 points, and No. 5 South Carolina advanced to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game with a 93-75 win over 10th-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday.
MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 19 points to provide a huge boost off the bench for South Carolina (29-3), and Sania Feagin added 14.
Sahara Williams had 17 points and Payton Verhulst added 15 points and nine assists for Oklahoma (25-7), which looked fatigued playing its third game in three days.
South Carolina’s smothering defense set the tone early, repeatedly forcing hurried, bad shots and five turnovers while racing to a double-digit first-quarter lead. The Gamecocks stretched the lead to 45-28 at the break, closing the first half on a 14-2 run while holding Oklahoma without a field goal over the final four minutes.
South Carolina never led by fewer than 10 points in the second half.
Notables
- With the win over Oklahoma, South Carolina heads to the championship game for its sixth consecutive appearance, an SEC record.
- After the game against the Sooners, the Gamecocks have officially recorded a 20-point lead in 25 of their 32 games this season.
- South Carolina put in a total team effort, with nine of 11 Gamecocks who hit the floor scoring at least a bucket and five finishing in double-figures.
- Joyce Edwards posted her fourth 20-point game this season, scoring eight of her 21 in the third quarter to extend the lead to 15. Her 21 points marks the second time in as many seasons that a South Carolina freshman has put up 20+ in an SEC Tournament game (MiLaysia Fulwiley vs. LSU, 3/10/24) and just the fourth time in program history that a Gamecock freshman has hit that mark.
- MiLaysia Fulwiley finished with 19 points, putting up half of them in the fourth quarter in just four minutes on the floor as part of a 10-5 run by the Gamecocks.
- Sania Feagin ended in double-figures for the second-straight game, scoring 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor.
- Chloe Kits rounded out the double-digit scoring for the Gamecocks with 10 points, marking her fifth game in the last six to finish with 10 or more.
- Maryam Dauda was a defensive machine, helping to hold Oklahoma’s top scorer Reagan Beers (17.8 PPG) to just seven points on the day – her third-lowest scoring game this season.
