FINAL: Gamecocks Overcome Sloppy 1st Half To Defeat Georgia, Break SEC Record
The South Carolina Gamecocks came into today's game looking to break the record for the longest SEC-wining streak in conference history (42), and while it wasn't pretty, they overpowered the Georgia Bulldogs late to etch their name into the record books once again. The start of the game indicated that this matchup was going to be a walk in the park for South Carolina, as the Gamecocks jumped out to a 15-6 lead by the 4:22 mark in the first quarter, hitting three 3-pointers and getting the ball inside to Kamilla Cardoso for easy buckets. Then, the game completely turned on it's head for Dawn Staley's team.
After a Georgia timeout at the 4:18 mark, the Bulldogs would go on 17-2 run over the next 5 minutes and 51 seconds of play, as the Gamecocks struggled to keep Javyn Nicholson off the offensive glass and had trouble preventing dribble penetration from Asia Avinger due to her sheer quickness. Although, Carolina woke up and retook the lead with 4:29 left in the first half, Georgia's zone defense would keep from scoring another point up until halftime, and Nicholson continued to wreak havoc on the Gamecocks frontcourt.
Carolina ended up 10 turnovers as a team in the first half and a rebounding margin of -3, which led to them being down seven points heading into the locker room.
Raven Johnson tries to feed the ball inside to one of her teammates in today's game versus Georgia (18th Feb., 2024)
Jeff Blake | USA Today Network
In the third quarter, the Gamecocks would a much better job of moving the ball around against the Bulldogs' zone defense and getting the ball inside to Kamilla, creating more space for everyone else. Chloe Kitts, in particular, did a great job of finishing through contact and hitting her shots, which Carolina had issues with to that point in the game. On the other end, Dawn switched defensive matchups, assigning Cardoso to guard Javyn Nicolson, which deterred the Bulldog forward from trying to get the basket.
The adjustments made by the Gamecocks helped them outscore Georgia 22-9 in the third quarter and grab a 50-44 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of the game. Throughout the home stretch, Carolina was able to dig deep and find an extra gear when it mattered, while Georgia, who played three starters for 35-plus minutes, seemed to run out of gas. Two Te-Hina Paopao threes at the 5:00 and 4:18 marks, respectively, pushed the Gamecocks lead to double digits and essentially put the game on ice.
South Carolina will play their next game against Alabama at the CLA on Thursday night.
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