With the South Carolina women’s basketball team 30 games into its 2023-24 season, no one has been able to stop the Gamecocks.
Tennessee is about to become the first opponent to get a third shot at becoming the first to take down the nation’s top-ranked program.
The fifth-seeded Lady Volunteers vaulted into a semifinal showdown Saturday at the Southeastern Conference tournament with Friday’s 83-61 victory over fourth-seeded Alabama at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, avenging their 72-56 loss to the Crimson Tide on Feb. 8 in Tuscaloosa.
In the rematch, Tennessee (19-11) never trailed, building a 19-14 advantage by the end of the first quarter and stretching things out from there to lead 42-29 at halftime and 68-44 entering the final period.
The Lady Vols were able to give their stars a little rest late as coach Kellie Harper went 11 deep against the Crimson Tide (23-9), but a trio of Tennessee starters reached double figures in scoring, led by Jewel Spear’s 24-point performance with 6-for-6 shooting from 3-point range.
Rickea Jackson, who is the team’s leading scorer this season but had her minutes limited by foul trouble a day earlier, added 22 points with nine rebounds, while Sara Puckett scored 10. Tamari Key enhanced her eight points with a pair of blocks, and reserve Kaiya Wynn used her 18 minutes to hand out a game-high six assists — one more than teammate Jasmine Powell, who led the team with three steals.
Alabama got double-digit scoring performances from Sarah Ashlee Barker (17) and Loyal McQueen (15), but the Tide were outrebounded 43-28 — and largely baffled when it came to defending against Jackson and Spear, who were held to 13 and five points, respectively, in the previous matchup between the teams.
“We never found a solution for those two today, and then we didn’t rebound the ball like we did when we played them in Tuscaloosa,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said in postgame comments on the Tide’s website. “I think on a day like today, a lot of times you come in here and talk about what you don’t do, but I think you give credit to Tennessee today.
Tennessee’s regular-season loss to Alabama contributed to it missing out on one of the top four seeds in Greenville and a double bye in the SEC bracket — the Lady Vols beat 12th-seeded Kentucky 76-62 in a second-round matchup Thursday to reach the quarterfinals — but now it will continue its bid for a league title, which will require four wins in four days.
The chance for a third one comes at 4:30 p.m. Saturday against South Carolina, which beat the Lady Vols 66-55 on Feb. 15 in Knoxville and 76-68 this past Sunday in Columbia. Tennessee was competitive in both matchups, though the Lady Vols couldn’t avoid being added to the list of those who tried and failed — twice, with no reminders needed.
“I probably do not even have to write up a scouting report,” Harper said in a postgame news conference. “They know. We’ve played them twice recently, so the scouting report is fresh on our minds. We understand what we’re up against. We get it. We know how talented they are.
“But I think the way we’ve played, hopefully we’ll have some confidence going in and we can tweak some things and give our players a game plan that they’re going to be excited about.”
South Carolina 79, Texas A&M 68
Veteran coach Dawn Staley spent all season teaching her young, undefeated team.
Those lessons, she stressed, would have to carry into the SEC tournament if the Gamecocks hope to achieve their championship goals.
Kamilla Cardoso scored 17 points and Tessa Johnson added 13 as South Carolina beat ninth-seeded Texas A&M and reached 30 wins for a third straight season.
Texas A&M (19-12) lost its fifth straight meeting with the Gamecocks — the Aggies were handed a 99-64 home loss on Jan. 21 in the teams’ lone regular-season matchup this year — but the quarterfinal was no walkover for usually sharp South Carolina.
The team had 10 turnovers in the first quarter and finished with a season-worst 24. The offense took some time to warm up, too, and Staley grew visibly frustrated as the period wore on.
“I don’t think they met the moment,” Staley said.
Aicha Coulibaly had a career-high 32 points, 26 in the second half, for Texas A&M, but after getting pushed around at times by the Aggies, the Gamecocks responded with Cardoso — a former prep star at Chattanooga’s Hamilton Heights — dominating down low and the team relying on defense to open up a 14-point lead in the third quarter.
South Carolina held the Aggies to 30% (6-for-20) shooting from 3-point range and forced 14 turnovers.
“Yes, we won a lot of basketball games, but there are a lot of things we need to work on, a lot of deficiencies that we need to work on,” Staley said. “This team has responded time in and time out, and they’re going to have to respond now that’s it’s a win-or-go-home situation.”
LSU 78, Auburn 48
For a team that had its share of struggles and drama earlier this season, eighth-ranked LSU (27-4) appears as sharp as it was a year ago during a run to the NCAA tournament title.
Flau’jae Johnson scored 17 of her 25 points in the first half, Angel Reese had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and second-seeded LSU raced to a 21-0 lead to crank the engine on a rout of seventh-seeded Auburn (20-11) in the SEC tourney quarterfinals.
“No time like now,” Reese said. “No time like March.”
The offseason was filled with talk of an NCAA repeat until preseason No. 1 LSU lost its opening game to Colorado and Reese missed four games, an absence still not fully explained by the program.
That’s all behind coach Kim Mulkey’s bunch now. They’re focused on making a deep postseason run.
“We got humbled at the right point,” said Reese, whose double-double was her 21st this season. “Now it’s win or go home. We’re in a great place with our team, understanding what it’s going to take to win it.”
LSU will face No. 3 seed Ole Miss at 7 p.m. Saturday with a spot in Sunday’s 3 p.m. title game on the line.
Johnson, a sophomore guard, led the way against Auburn, hitting a 3-pointer, making a three-point play and canning another long-distance shot to put LSU up 15-0 less than four minutes in.
Auburn played LSU as tightly as any SEC opponent during the regular season, winning 67-62 at home in January before falling 71-66 in the rematch a month later. Any chance of another nail-biter ended quickly Friday as Auburn missed its first 14 shots.
The drought ended on JaMya Mingo-Young’s foul shot nearly seven minutes into the quarter. Kaitlyn Duhon got Auburn’s first basket a minute later.
McKenna Eddings led Auburn with career-high 15 points, all in the final two quarters.
Auburn coach Johnnie Harris believes her team has done enough to qualify for the NCAA’s 68-team bracket. She’ll give players a couple of days off to put aside the lopsided defeat and then get them focused on what’s next.
“Tonight was tough. They jumped on us,” Harris said. “This team has been resilient, this team has bounced back, and I believe they will.”
Ole Miss 84, Florida 74
Marquesha Davis scored a game-high 33 points, Madison Scott notched a double-double with 15 rebounds and 14 points, and the Rebels (23-7) turned back 11th-seeded Florida (16-15) a night after the Gators upset No. 6 seed Vanderbilt.
Kennedy Todd-Williams also reached double figures with 18 points for Ole Miss, and Davis rounded out her scoring with six rebounds, four blocks and a pair of assists for the Rebels, who trailed 21-15 after the first quarter.
Aliyah Matharu led Florida with 24 points, making all 10 of her free throws, and Leilani Correa added 18 points with nine rebounds.