The South Carolina women’s basketball team advanced to 17-0 after defeating the Texas A&M Aggies 99-64 on the road in College Station.
The difference maker in the game was South Carolina's superior bench production. The Gamecocks outscored the Aggies 45-10 in bench points.
“We’ve played in hostile environments. We knew they would have a good crowd — and loud — and we want to just do the habits that we created," head coach Dawn Staley said. "We got good practice habits, and sometimes you don’t know how well you’ll execute them in this environment. But the SEC prepares you to play under these conditions on the road. And road games are really hard to get wins, but I’m happy our team executed.”
Two players who had impressive performances coming off the bench were freshman guard MiLaysia Fulwiley and junior forward Sania Feagin. Fulwiley hit a new career high of 21 points, including three 3-pointers.
“She was confident. When a player's confident, some magical things can happen,” Staley said. “Good players can make the adjustment, and she made the adjustment to come out and give us a big boost off the bench.”
Feagin managed to tie her career high of 15 points and record her first 3-pointer of the season. Feagin came into the game averaging 9 points over the last two games, almost doubling her season average of 5.8.
South Carolina's offense got off to a fast start, as the team began with a 15-0 run in the first quarter. The Gamecocks went on another 9-0 scoring run to end the second quarter, which was capped off with a buzzer-beater 3-pointer from Fulwiley.
Fulwiley was not the only Gamecock to score multiple threes. Junior guard Bree Hall went 2-4 from the 3-point range. As a team, South Carolina went 7-13 from behind the arc, and it continues to lead the nation in 3-point percentage.
Senior center Kamilla Cardoso continued her dominant SEC campaign and demonstrated why she is on the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List, finishing with 17 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks. Cardoso has now achieved a double-double in five of South Carolina's last six games, totaling 10 on the season.
South Carolina was dominant on defense, as well, holding Texas A&M to just 30.4% shooting from the floor. The Gamecocks lead the country in blocks per game and continued its dominant run tonight, blocking seven of the Aggies' shots.
Despite the team's strong road performance, Staley said the team has areas to improve on before the season is over.
“You should see us in practice. Like yes, practice grounds us," Staley said. "We don’t know if the team that sometimes practices the way that they do will show up in games, and it does show up in little lapses. But I think for the most part we're connected, we got a good group. They just want to win.”
South Carolina will look to continue its winning streak when it travels to Baton Rouge on Thursday to go up against No. 10 LSU. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. and be broadcast on ESPN.