Stellar Gamecock defense and outstanding offensive performances from sophomore forward Aliyah Boston and sophomore guard Zia Cooke lifted No. 4 South Carolina to a 62-50 win over No. 22 Georgia on Thursday night at Colonial Life Arena.
South Carolina defense put on an defensive clinic with 14 steals and 14 blocks— 10 of those blocks belonging to Boston— only giving the Lady Bulldogs eight free throw attempts.
Not only did Boston perform well on the defense, but she also totaled 16 points and 11 rebounds with those 10 blocks, finishing the night with a triple-double. This was South Carolina’s first triple-double in program history against an SEC opponent.
“I’m not surprised. That probably won’t be her last triple-double she’ll have,” head coach Dawn Staley said. “She does her homework before she steps on the court, so she understands what she needs to do out there on the floor.”
The Gamecocks were also able to produce points off of what was a turnover-heavy game. South Carolina and Georgia combined for 43 turnovers, but the Gamecocks took advantage and scored 22 points off of 23 Lady Bulldog turnovers compared to Georgia’s 7 points off of Gamecock turnovers.
Those points off turnovers were quite pivotal in the first quarter as South Carolina had difficulty scoring early on in the ball game, 9 of the 15 points scored coming off turnovers.
“Everytime we did [turned the ball over, South Carolina], they capitalized off of it and when you’re playing a team that’s that good, you can’t give them the ball because that’s 23 possessions that we don’t have,” Georgia head coach Joni Taylor said.
The Gamecocks continued to have trouble pulling away from the Lady Bulldogs until South Carolina went on a 12-2 run, Cooke accounting for half of the Gamecocks’ points during that run.
Cooke had a promising game against Georgia after struggling to score in the last three games, averaging only 8.3 points per game. She finished the night with 16 points, two rebounds and two steals.
“Lately, I’ve been telling myself to just turn the page,” Cooke said. “I’ve talked to coach [Staley] and she told me if I want to be one of the best players, I have to learn how to turn the page so that’s what I did tonight, I didn’t think about any of my missed shots, I just kept going out and doing the same thing.”
The Gamecocks will hit the road for Baton Rouge over the weekend as they are set to take on LSU on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers will enter Sunday’s game with a 6-6 overall record and a 4-2 SEC record.
LSU is coming off of a 66-64 win over Missouri last Monday and will be looking for its second top-10 win after defeating then-No. 7 Texas A&M earlier this season. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. EST and can be seen on the SEC Network.