Gamecocks find a way to win against No. 25 South Dakota

The Coyotes' scrappy defense forced the Gamecocks to look for different ways to score in the 73-60 win Sunday.

The 25th ranked South Dakota Coyotes posed a number of challenges for No. 5 South Carolina Sunday at Colonial Life Arena, but the Gamecocks preserved and got the 73-60 win to improve to 12-1 on the year. It’s the third win over a ranked opponent for USC.

South Dakota (11-2) played scrappy defense, crowding the paint making it hard for the Gamecocks to get entry passes in at times. USC Aliyah Boston saw two sometimes three defenders each time she caught the ball and was held to just seven points on 1-of-5 shooting.

USC’s guards rose to the occasion and proceeded to do damage from around the perimeter. LeLe Grissett led the team in scoring with 17 points, followed by Zia Cooke with 13.

Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley said her team was able to take what the defense gave them and found a way to win.

“That’s something that’s been a challenge for us, to take on some physicality in the paint” she said. “I thought what they took away allowed other things. Like I thought LeLe [Grissett] flourished because there was so much attention to the post players and I thought that Brea Beal did a great job. So those big guards benefited from the attention that the bigs got.”

The Gamecocks still managed to finish with 32 points in the paint and had blistering first and third quarters, shooting 56.3 and 46.7 percent from the field respectively.

Bench play was a huge factor once again as the Gamecocks’ 2nd unit outscored South Dakota’s 30-0 in the contest.

The biggest highlight of the night was Tyasha Harris’ buzzer beater at the end of the first quarter. With 1.5 seconds left, Harris caught it and launched it 71 feet getting nothing but net and celebratory hugs from her teammates. Harris said she’s often practices long distance shots, but tonight was the night one went in.

“Not from that distance, but I always actually shoot the half-court shot before we end shoot around usually I miss it, almost every time, but last game I made the half-court shot after shoot around. So I was kind of prepared,” Harris said.

The shot left Harris’ teammates in awe as well as her coach.

“She threw the ball down the other end and I’m like ‘oh her shooting percentage is gonna go down,’” Staley said with a laugh. “I saw it go in and I was like ‘oh wow, why was I thinking that way? I’ve got to think more positive.’”

The Gamecocks are off until Jan.2 when they start SEC play with Kentucky at home at 7:40 p.m.