South Carolina's Persistence Leads Them Past Maryland
Dawn Staley and South Carolina's Women's Basketball team came into Monday night having toppled every single opponent placed in front of them in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. After taking some time to figure out the overall flow of the game, South Carolina...
In the first quarter, the Gamecocks got off to a good start, as they utilized their overall paint presence early to try establish an offensive footing, getting out to an early 13-7 lead. The Terrapins, however, quickly mounted an answer, using a plethora of screen action in their five-out offense to both draw out South Carolina's front court and open up driving lanes. This lead to Maryland outscoring the Gamecocks 14-2 in the final four minutes and forty-two seconds of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, after becoming hesitant with the Terps' full court press defense, South Carolina began to once again assert themselves on the offensive end through their persistence in trying to get the ball inside, which caused Maryland to rack up a whopping nine fouls in the period. This strategy also opened things up from the inside-out for Zia Cooke, who scored nine points in the final 4:11 of the first half to put the Gamecocks up eight heading into the break.
In the third quarter, the Gamecocks continued to draw fouls from the Terrapins due to how they were effectively establishing their positioning on the floor. Boston, in particular, began to eat up the worn down Maryland front court, scoring six points in the first three minutes of the period. It was long after that stretch when Aliyah's partner-in-crime, Kamila Cardoso, went onto the floor and began to have her effect on the game, scoring four points of her own after struggling to get going in the first half.
This lead to a 12-point lead to start the fourth quarter, a lead the Gamecocks they would not relinquish, which means they have officially punched their ticket for a date with the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Final Four.
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