The No. 1 seed South Carolina women's basketball team defeated the No. 2 seed Duke Blue Devils 54-50 in the Elite Eight round of the Birmingham 2 regional bracket at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday afternoon. The win clinches the fifth consecutive Final Four appearance for the Gamecocks.
"It's unfortunate that one of us had to win and one of us had to lose," head coach Dawn Staley said. "It wasn't from working super hard trying to get it done."
The Gamecocks got off to a hot start in the first quarter, leading 10-2 in the first five minutes of the game. Duke shot 1-8 (12.5%) from the field to start the game while junior forward Chloe Kitts and senior forward Sania Feagin scored 9 quick points combined for South Carolina. Kitts laced a triple off a feed from senior guard Te-Hina Paopao to give South Carolina some momentum.
Duke responded to round out the first quarter, but South Carolina held a 16-10 lead. Duke freshman forward Toby Fournier scored 7 consecutive points for the Blue Devils while Duke forced four South Carolina turnovers during the quarter.
The Gamecocks rolled with a commanding interior presence in the second quarter. Feagin got a couple more buckets early in the quarter, while freshman forward Joyce Edwards scored a layup off a pretty spin move in the post. The Gamecocks led 25-14 with five minutes left in the first half.
The Blue Devils went on an 8-0 run where the Gamecocks couldn't make a field goal for over five minutes. Duke junior guard Ashlon Jackson hit a 3-pointer to tighten the South Carolina lead to 26-22 to close out the half. Duke made life difficult offensively for the Gamecocks, who committed 10 first-half turnovers.
Duke took a 29-26 lead in the first two minutes of the second half after a 7-0 run. Senior guard Reigan Richardson hit a contested 3-pointer to take the lead, while Feagin responded in the next possession with a turnaround jump shot.
The Gamecocks continued to be stifled by Duke's defense, as Duke reached a game-high 6-point lead at 38-32 after a transition layup from sophomore guard Oluchi Okananwa and a layup from Fournier. Paopao responded with a couple mid-range baskets, but another 3-pointer from Jackson gave Duke a 41-36 lead. Fournier and Jackson continued to score at will, leading the way with 14 and 13 points, respectively. The Blue Devils entered the final frame leading 42-38.
The Gamecocks went on a roll to begin the fourth quarter, retaking a 46-42 lead before Duke called a timeout with six minutes remaining. Paopao hit a driving layup to take the lead, while Kitts added a rolling layup of her own. Duke missed eight field goal attempts to begin the quarter.
The Blue Devils went on a 4-0 run in response, out of the timeout. Richardson hit a step-back jump shot along the baseline while Fournier hit a layup rolling to the basket to tie the game at 46.
South Carolina continued to go inside to find its offense. Feagin hit a fadeaway post shot to regain the lead, follow by Kitts knocking down a pair of free throws. Fournier hit a layup to cut the lead back down to 2 points, but Kitts responded on the next possession with a basket of her own with less than two minutes remaining.
Okananwa hit a layup with 58 seconds left to make it a 52-50 game, and the Blue Devils forced a late South Carolina turnover after senior guard Bree Hall committed an offensive foul, giving Duke the chance to tie or take the lead with 30 seconds remaining.
Jackson got the final look for the Blue Devils, an airball 3-pointer that Hall brought down with less than 10 seconds remaining. Kitts knocked down two more free throws to ice the game at 54-50 and send the Gamecocks to the Final Four.
"I told myself that my coach wanted me to have the ball at the end of the game because she knows I can make my free throws," Kitts said. "And I told myself that I'm really good at basketball, and I made both of them."
Nothing coming easy
The Gamecocks entered the fourth quarter trailing 42-38 but were able to outscore Duke 16-8 in the final quarter to secure the win. The Blue Devils made for a back-and-forth game where South Carolina got out rebounded 41-30 while turning the ball over 16 times, well above its season average of 12.3 turnovers per game.
With the final frame remaining, the Gamecocks had its work cut out for the team to earn the victory. Hall said it is the demeanor of the team and leadership from Staley that helped pave the win.
"We had to change a few things and I feel like it was just our calm energy that helped a lot," Hall said. "I feel like coach is always calm with us and telling us what we need to do, and I think we did a good job executing."
South Carolina displayed its toughness as time dwindled on the clock, relying on its interior offense to get points on the board while struggling to give Duke any strong looks of its own. Eight of Kitts' team-high 14 points came in the fourth quarter with some clutch free-throw shooting, while Feagin finished with 12 points and eight rebounds to go along with two blocks and three steals.
"I thought they forced us into taking some bad shots that almost ended our season," Staley said. "I thought when we had to make plays off of broken sets, we did it in the fourth quarter."
Sticking with the starters
In the down-to-the-wire fourth quarter, Staley didn't make a single substitution, riding with her starting five for the final 10 minutes. All five of the South Carolina starters played at least 30 minutes in the game, while the bench, consisting of primarily underclassmen, only accumulated 39 total minutes played.
Freshman forward Joyce Edwards, the team's leading scorer, only played 15 minutes in the game, scoring 4 points on 2-7 (28.6%) shooting. Sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley, who led the Gamecocks with a game-high 23 points in the Sweet 16 victory against Maryland on Friday, only played 11 minutes. Fulwiley finished with 5 points on 2-6 (33.3%) shooting with four turnovers.
More postseason glory for the Gamecocks
With the win over Maryland, South Carolina enters its fifth-consecutive Final Four and seventh in school history, all since 2015. The Gamecocks have the opportunity to win a second-consecutive national championship and its third in just four years, the best four-year run in women's college basketball since UConn won four consecutive championships from 2013-2016.
For Feagin, Hall and senior guard Raven Johnson, the win marks a Final Four appearance in each of their four-year careers at South Carolina. Staley acknowledged how much she has relied on Feagin as the season progressed and the potential history the senior class can accomplish.
"You got to lean on her for hopefully two more games, and that entire class will leave here as the most decorated if they can get another championship," Staley said.
What's next?
The No. 1 seed South Carolina women's basketball team will travel to Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, for its fifth consecutive Final Four. The Gamecocks will play the winner of No. 1 seed Texas and No. 2 seed TCU out of the Birmingham 3 regional bracket on Friday night, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.