In Sunday’s women’s basketball matchup between South Carolina and San Diego State, the Gamecocks forced 13 Aztec turnovers within the first eight minutes of the game, setting the tone for the rest of the day.
And the rest of the day moved pretty easily for the Gamecocks (3-0) after that as they cruised to an 89-38 win.
“This was a tough game for us because we just got beat by the No. 1 team in the country, in my opinion,” San Diego State head coach Stacie Terry said after the contest.
After two blowout wins against Clemson and the Aztecs (1-3) along with No. 1 Connecticut losing this past week, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that South Carolina will hold the top ranking.
Transition buckets and points off turnovers for South Carolina pretty much tell Sunday’s whole story. In the first half alone, 19 Aztec turnovers led to 27 Gamecock points and nine first-half steals led to 19 fast break points for South Carolina. The Gamecocks had a commanding 51-16 lead at halftime.
It was common to see freshman guard/forward A’ja Wilson glide to the rim for easy layups after a steal. Wilson scored 15 points coming off the bench to go along with nine rebounds.
Junior guard Tiffany Mitchell went off for 20 points. She stayed hot from beyond the arc the entire game, hitting all six of her three-point attempts.
“I was pretty confident coming into this game,” Mitchell said. “I got shots up before we played, and the day before, I did the same routine, so I just felt good with my shot today.”
San Diego State’s ball-handlers faced relentless pressure from South Carolina point guards. Junior Khadijah Sessions and freshman Bianca Cuevas’ speed helped them each earn four steals and easy assist opportunities.
The pressure helped the Gamecocks force 29 turnovers for the game while also holding the Aztecs to shoot just 29 percent from the field. Additionally, South Carolina shot 51 percent on the day and had another solid day from the three-point line (9-of-19, 47 percent).
Once again, South Carolina showcased its depth with 13 players seeing action on Sunday. Cuevas looks to be important role player this season. With her four steals, she had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting to go along with five assists and three rebounds. Freshman Jatarie White also looks like she can play valuable minutes in the front court, posting six points and rebounds against San Diego State.
Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley may be getting a little tired of hearing about going into the No. 1 spot in the AP poll. She said it’s just a little milestone for what her team is trying to accomplish, which is to be No. 1 at the end of the year. Thus, all of these early-season accolades don’t mean much until it gets to March.
That attitude has translated to her players. Wilson said Staley in the locker room called the Gamecocks upcoming trip to the Bahamas for the Junkanoo Jam a “business trip.”
Mitchell did put things into perspective a bit by mentioning how far South Carolina has come in the women’s basketball landscape.
“Basically, we’re just putting South Carolina on the map,” she said. “If you’re not really in tune with women’s basketball, you wouldn’t put South Carolina as a Final Four team. So we’re just trying to open people’s eyes and show them that we are a national contender.”