The South Carolina women's basketball team defeated the Kansas State Wildcats 73-47 in front of an electric crowd at Colonial Life Arena on Sunday night.
South Carolina’s offense followed a trend that has been developing lately: first-quarter scoring. The team scored 15 first-quarter points in its tournament opener against Jacksonville and just 18 points in the first quarter Sunday night.
The Gamecocks led by at least five points entering the second quarter in both games. However, such slow starts won’t bode well against the tougher matchups to come. Sunday’s slow start could also be partly attributed to foul trouble.
Forward A’ja Wilson, one of four finalists for the Naismith Trophy, exited the game at the 8:17 mark and did not return until the 7:39 mark of the second quarter.
In the second quarter, the Gamecocks surged ahead, scoring 27 points on 62.5 percent shooting. South Carolina outscored Kansas State by 14 in the second quarter, behind 9 points and three steals from Tiffany Mitchell, the team’s other finalist for the Naismith Trophy.
South Carolina entered the locker room leading 45-26 and would never trail in the second half.
Like the first quarter, the Gamecocks struggled out of the gate in the second half. The team managed just 17 points on 35.3 percent shooting with seven points coming in the final 2:50 of the third quarter. Senior guard Khadijah Sessions kicked off the 7-0 run with a steal and transition layup to shift the game’s momentum back into South Carolina’s favor.
Kansas State’s offense also stagnated in the second half but, unlike the Gamecocks, it failed to gain any sort of momentum. The Wildcats were held to 21 points in the second half, while shooting 26.5 percent from the field and 9.1 percent from three-point range. Breanna Lewis, a 6-foot-5 forward, was the standout performer for Kansas State, scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds in 35 minutes.
Staley substituted her starters out one-by-one throughout the fourth quarter, with each player receiving their own standing ovation.
Mitchell finished with a team-high 20 points on 7-13 shooting, in addition to her four steals, four rebounds and three assists. Center Alaina Coates followed with 14 points and 10 rebounds of her own in just 21 minutes.
"She knows when to turn it on and when to turn it off, and when to kind of fly under the radar. I do think she made a conscious effort to, when A’ja went out, to just step up and know that we needed to not feel A’ja sitting on the bench for the majority of the game,” Staley said.
Sunday night was Mitchell’s final game at Colonial Life Arena, as the Gamecocks will head to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to face Syracuse for the Sweet 16.