A Look Back At South Carolina's Road To Selection Sunday
South Carolina women's basketball has dominated all season, amassing a perfect 32-0 record heading into the NCAA Tournament, leading to the notion that the #1 overall seed is all but locked in for the Gamecocks. Let's look back at the incredible journey USC took to get here.
South Carolina's first major test was on the road against #17 Maryland, where Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke's 34 points helped the Gamecocks pull away to an 81-56 victory. Nine days later, the team traveled to Stanford for a 1-vs-2 matchup with the Cardinals, a game to remember, as the Gamecocks forced overtime and wound up emerging victorious, 76-71. The next 18 games were smooth sailing for Staley's Gamecocks, who won by an average of 34.5 points per game.
An intense week followed, including games against #5 UConn and #3 LSU. The Carolina-UConn game was a highly anticipated rematch of last season's national title bout. The Huskies raced to an early lead, but the Gamecocks recovered, matching them by halftime and witnessing Aliyah Boston exploding for 23 second-half points as the defending champions held on for an 81-77 win.
Two games later, South Carolina battled LSU in a game between two undefeated teams, with the SEC regular season title potentially hanging in the balance. The Gamecocks got ahead early and never looked back, as Kamilla Cardoso's play inside was too much for LSU, resulting in an 88-64 rout and sole positioning atop the conference. After double-digit victories over Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia, and an overtime scare from Ole Miss, USC finished the regular season 29-0 atop the national polls and ready for the SEC Tournament.
In the SEC quarterfinals against Arkansas, Seniors Victaria Saxton and Laeticia Amihere combined for 35 points, leading Carolina to a 93-66 victory. In the semifinals, USC faced Ole Miss and proved their recent overtime scare was a fluke, as five Gamecocks scored double-digits, attacking the Rebels in all facets of the game that turned into a dominant 80-51 win.
With the victory came an SEC Title bid against the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, which was an intense affair. Still, South Carolina's consistency and star power shined with 42 points from Cooke and Boston, resulting in a 74-58 victory. The Gamecocks won the SEC Championship with an undefeated record for a reason, and South Carolina has all the tools necessary to repeat as undisputed, undefeated, unmatched National Champions.
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