MiLaysia Fulwiley's Career Performance Proves Pivotal In SEC Tournament Title Win
South Carolina's women's basketball team saw their true freshman star breakout in what to this point was the biggest game of the season on Sunday afternoon.
When the lights shine the brightest on the biggest of stages, coaches and fans alike find out what their team is made of. For South Carolina's women's basketball team, their journey to another SEC Tournament title this past weekend was by no means perfect, but they made the plays when they needed to the most; on Sunday, the player who most frequently showed up in those moments was true freshman guard MiLaysia Fulwiley.
The hometown hooper made her presence felt early against the LSU Tigers, scoring or assisting on seven of the team's eighteen first-quarter points and sticking to LSU guard Hailey Van Lith like glue on the defensive end. Fulwiley would continue to give the Tigers fits the rest of the afternoon, scoring a career-high 24 points on 66.6 percent shooting from the floor, including four-pointers (tied career high), and pick-pocketed LSU on two occasions.
In a game where no Gamecock frontcourt player spent more than 22 minutes on the floor due to foul trouble, much like Tessa Johnson in the quarterfinals against Texas A&M, a freshman guard gave the team a much-needed boost. That performance, according to head coach Dawn Staley, is a direct result of the growing process MiLaysia has endured throughout the season.
"Her maturation process has been great. She's a learner. I know she just said, 'I'm out here hoopin',' but she's out there hoopin' and learning and grasping what it takes to play at a high level all the time. She had it going on today; she was able to score. She was able to find teammates. I think just her presence, her speed, [and] her ability to create her own shot was needed today like no other."
While we'll have to wait and see if Fulwiley can parlay today's performance into a solid run in the NCAA Tournament, it's a good sign that they're getting significant contributions from players who aren't in their starting, one of just several components needed to win a championship.
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