Gamecocks Cap Off Perfect Regular Season With Win Over Georgia
On a day where emotions were running high for various reasons, South Carolina's women's basketball team faced yet another stingy opponent in the Georgia Bulldogs, one of the few teams from the SEC all season that has pushed Dawn Staley's squad into the fourth quarter.
Despite the Bulldogs' efforts, however, Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, and other senior members of the team fed off the energy of a sold-out Colonial Life Arena and managed to thwart Georgia in the end, winning by a final score of 73-63.
Besides being a part of the biggest senior day celebration in recent South Carolina Athletics history, Aliyah Boston was the biggest story coming out of this game, as she put on a show for the Gamecock faithful to the tune of 25 points and eleven rebounds, securing her 78th career double-double in her final regular season home game.
Boston was a constant thorn in the side of the Bulldogs' front court, who struggled to hold their ground against the national player of the year candidate, who then used her elite footwork to create good shot opportunities and help South Carolina draw fourteen fouls from Georgia's forwards.
Although Aliyah did more than cause problems for Georgia, the Gamecocks came out of halftime with just an eight-point lead. They needed someone else on the team to open the floodgates more on the offensive end, and that help would come in the form of Kamilla Cardoso.
Cardoso, who had gotten into foul trouble and wound up playing just four minutes in the first half, came in for Boston and completely took over the game, scoring nine of her thirteen points in the third quarter to give the Gamecocks a double-digit cushion, and continuing to draw fouls from Georgia due to her sheer height advantage and quick put-backs in the paint.
Outside of South Carolina's two tallest players, the rest of the senior class carried the offensive load, with Zia Cooke, Kierra Fletcher, Victaria Saxton, and Laeticia Amihere scoring the rest of the teams' points, except for three lone free throws from Raven Johnson.
The win gives South Carolina the outright SEC Regular Season Title, as the Gamecocks now wait to see how the rest of the bracket fills out for the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament in Greenville, SC, which for them starts on Friday when they'll face the winner of the Missouri versus Arkansas matchup.
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