Mitchell’s late layup carries Gamecocks past Commodores
Sophomore guard Tiffany Mitchell hit two big shots in the final minute to help propel the No. 10 Gamecock women’s basketball team to a 61-57 victory against No. 16 Vanderbilt on Sunday.
The game was tied at 55 with less than a minute to play, and Mitchell just beat the shot clock on a tough layup to put the Gamecocks in front with 50 seconds remaining. Vanderbilt brought the ball up the court, and Mitchell stole it to score a fast break layup and put the game in hand at 59-55 with 30 seconds left.
Mitchell finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds while also adding three assists. Junior center Elem Ibiam almost recorded a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
South Carolina tried to slow down a Vanderbilt offense that possessed two of the top three scorers in the SEC in senior guards Christina Foggie and Jasmine Lister. Foggie came in as the conference’s leading scorer averaging more than 19 points per game and looked the part, finishing the day with 23 points. However, Lister could not find the same type of success against the Gamecock defense. She finished with only four points on two-of-eight shooting.
“They weren’t really letting me get the ball,” Lister said of the South Carolina defense. “They had good pressure defense and limited my touches. They did do a good job, and I just tried to take advantage when I had the ball and create for my teammates as well.”
Vanderbilt’s only lead of the game came after Foggie hit the only three-pointer of the contest by either team with 15:47 remaining to put the Commodores in front 38-37. South Carolina fought back on the next possession with Ibiam sinking a jumper to put the Gamecocks back in the lead. Mitchell had a steal on the following possession and dished the ball off to junior forward Aleighsa Welch for the layup to extend the South Carolina lead to 41-38.
Coach Dawn Staley said getting the ball in the post often was in the game plan.
“I think that’s high-percentage basketball,” she said. “Either we want to get on the block or use our athleticism from the perimeter to drive into the paint because we feel like it’s high-percentage basketball, and I felt like our advantage would be to not shoot outside shots and (instead) take that ball to the paint.”
The Gamecocks led by as much as six points in the second half, but the Commodores roared back to tie the game at 53 with 3:20 remaining. Off of freshman center Alaina Coates’ turnover, Vanderbilt got the ball to sophomore guard Jasmine Jenkins on the next possession for a layup to force the tie.
Welch made a jumper for the Gamecocks shortly after to give them the 55-53 advantage, but Vanderbilt freshman forward Marqu’es Webb sunk two free throws to tie the game again with 1:20 left.
After that, Mitchell became the hero and helped move South Carolina to 18-2 on the year with a 6-1 record in conference play.
Vanderbilt fell to 16-4 with the loss, as well as 5-2 in SEC play. Both of the conference losses have come at the hands of the Gamecocks and will put the Commodores in a tougher position in trying to capture an SEC regular season title.
Staley was pleased that her team was able to keep Vanderbilt from scoring beyond the arc the entire game with one exception.
“Vandy’s a team that thrives when they are able to shoot three-point shots, so one of our keys was not to allow them to three us,” Staley said. “If they are able to get off more three-point shots or makes, they win this basketball game, so kudos to our kids for buying into our game plan and executing it to a T.”