The South Carolina women’s basketball team defeated Purdue 72-61 Monday night to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Gamecocks will play top-seeded Stanford Saturday in Fresno, Calif.
The Sweet 16 berth marks the first for USC coach Dawn Staley, but South Carolina advanced to the Elite Eight in 2002. The Gamecocks were led by senior guard Markeshia Grant, who scored 21 points in the victory. Freshman Aleighsa Welch pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
“We want to do more than just be in the tournament,” said senior La’Keisha Sutton before the start of the tournament. “We want to win games.”
— Compiled by Isabelle Khurshudyan