Edwards scores 27 in NCAA Tournament 1st round win
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Joyce Edwards had 27 points and eight rebounds and No. 1 seed South Carolina won its 17th straight home women’s NCAA Tournament game with a 103-34 defeat of 16th-seeded Southern on Saturday.
Edwards and the Gamecocks (32-3) opened with a 15-0 burst and never let up against the Jaguars (20-14), the Southwestern Athletic Conference champions.
South Carolina, already up 25 at the break, outscored Southern 32-2 in the third quarter.
It took little time for South Carolina to get going with Edwards scoring the first two baskets. Ta’Niya Latson added five points in the opening run as Southern started 0-for-7 shooting with six turnovers.
Latson finished with 17 points while Madina Okot and Agot Makeer had 15 points each. Tessa Johnson had 14 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
Jocelyn Tate had 10 points to lead Southern.
Gamecock Notables
- The Gamecock defense was on fire, holding Southern to the lowest points and lowest field goal percentage allowed by the Gamecocks this season, highlighted by a third quarter that saw no field goals from the Jaguars.
- The 103-34 win marked the largest margin of victory for South Carolina in an NCAA Tournament game (prev. 60 vs. Tennessee Tech, 3/21/25), and the seventh largest in NCAA tournament history.
- All nine available Gamecocks scored, with five finishing in double figures
- Joyce Edwards led the way with 27 points, her NCAA Tournament career high.
- Ta’Niya Latson finished with 17 points, dishing out a team-high 6 assists along the way to lead the team for the eighth time this season, also marking the most for Latson in an NCAA Tournament game.
- Madina Okot had a strong third quarter, scoring seven of her 15 points in a 17-0 run.
- Tessa Johnson notched the first double-double of her career, finishing with a career-high 10 boards to go alongside 14 points stemming from four made 3s.
- Agot Maker also had a career day, netting 15 points for her most as a Gamecock in addition to a career-high tying three steals.
- Alicia Tournebize was a force at the glass, grabbing a new career-high 11 boards.
