COLUMBIA, S.C. — "The Freshies" have had a winning impact on the University of South Carolina women's basketball program, and coach Dawn Staley believes it will last long after their time on campus is up.
"We've had leaders leave a legacy of leadership," Staley said after the top-ranked Gamecocks' 73-63 victory over Georgia on Sunday afternoon. "It's still intact."
That legacy also still has time to grow.
The group of five led by reigning AP national player of the year Aliyah Boston and prolific scorer Zia Cooke — along with Laeticia Amihere, Brea Beal and Olivia Thompson, they've called themselves "The Freshies" since arriving as the country's No. 1 recruiting class in 2019 — has helped the Gamecocks win three Southeastern Conference regular-season titles, two league tournament crowns and last year's NCAA championship.
The 6-foot-5 Boston had her 78th career double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Cooke had 10 of her 12 points in the first half on the way to her 98th career game with double-digit points as the Gamecocks completed a perfect regular season at 29-0 overall and 16-0 in the SEC. They had already wrapped up at least a share of the SEC regular-season title entering the weekend but made sure it's all their own; it's the seventh in program history.
Amihere, Beal, Boston, Cooke and Thompson have compiled a a 122-8 record in four seasons, and they were honored before the game on senior day, along with fifth-year forward Victaria Saxton and guard Warren Cousino, a graduate transfer from Georgia Tech. Boston cried several times, including on video as she discussed her time at school in a video message to fans.
When she cried in the tunnel before the ceremony, she got a bit of coaching from Staley.
"It's too early," Boston recalled.
South Carolina has won 35 straight games since its most recent loss, to Kentucky in the SEC tournament title game a year ago, and Boston and her teammates hope to avoid another misstep and add to their trophy collection this week. The conference tourney starts Wednesday in Greenville, although the top-seeded Gamecocks have a double bye and won't play until Friday's quarterfinals.
Boston said "there's definitely no relief" after their flawless regular season, the first in program history, because "now we're into the season where winning is the only option."
Kamilla Cardoso, a 6-7 reserve for South Carolina, also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Georgia (20-10, 9-7) kept things uncomfortably close into the second quarter before the Gamecocks pulled away for their 17th straight victory in the series with their border rival.
In South Carolina's 68-51 win at Georgia on Jan. 2, the Lady Bulldogs frustrated Boston by holding her to four points and five rebounds. They were at it again on defense Sunday, though in a different way, limiting just about every other Gamecock besides Boston to stay within reach of the reigning national champions.
Georgia guard Diamond Battles' basket with 5:58 left in the second quarter made it 25-all, but South Carolina dialed up its own defensive dominance for a 10-2 run the rest of the half to take control. The Gamecocks forced three turnovers and Georgia missed its five shots during the four-minute span. Cooke opened the surge with a driving bucket and closed it with a 3-pointer as the Gamecocks led 35-27 at the break.
South Carolina used its dominating height advantage — Cardoso scored all her points the final 20 minutes — to maintain a double-figure lead for much of the second half.
The Lady Bulldogs entered ranked fifth in the SEC with an average of 13.3 offensive rebounds per game, but they didn't have any in the first 20 minutes against South Carolina, which is second nationally in that statistic at 31 a game this season. Georgia wound up with just three offensive rebounds to the Gamecocks' 18.
The Lady Bulldogs had won five games in a row but fell to 0-4 this season against ranked opponents. Battles led them with 20 points, Javyn Nicholson added 14 with three steals and Malury Bates scored 10 points.
Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, who is in her first season as head coach at her alma mater, was proud of her team's fight and said this doesn't diminish how the Lady Bulldogs have jelled the past month. They'll try to carry that into the postseason, with their SEC tourney opener Thursday.
"Their personality is now becoming my personality," Abrahamson-Henderson said. "Which I love that. They've got to be fighters and they've got to be tough."