South Carolina, ranked No. 5 in the nation, has rolled through its first two games in the Southeastern Conference women’s tournament in Greenville, S.C.
The top-seeded Gamecocks (29-3) routed No. 8 seed Vanderbilt by 21 points Friday and handled No. 5 seed Oklahoma by 18 on Saturday.
Next up is a date with No. 1-ranked and second-seeded Texas (31-2), which held off No. 3 seed LSU 56-49 in the semifinals to advance to Sunday’s championship game.
“One of the reasons I came to South Carolina is to win,” freshman guard Joyce Edwards said. “We’re a winning program. That’s what we do. We’re just living up to expectations.”
The defending national champion Gamecocks will make their record sixth consecutive appearance in the SEC tournament title game. They are seeking their third consecutive tournament title and fifth in six seasons.
“Teams don’t come out here and do what we do and how often we do it,” guard MiLaysia Fulwiley said, “so I feel like as a team we’re living up to our expectations.”
South Carolina has enjoyed balanced scoring in both games in this tournament, as four players scored in double figures in the quarterfinal win vs. Vanderbilt, and five did so in the semifinal win.
“The good thing about South Carolina is that you have so many players who can score, whether it’s in the mid-range, whether it’s layups, whether it’s 3s,” Edwards said. “We’re not dependent on one thing.”
The Longhorns beat visiting South Carolina 66-62 on Feb. 9, but the host Gamecocks won the first meeting 67-50 Jan. 12.
“I think we’re playing our best basketball, individually and collectively,” coach Dawn Staley said of the Gamecocks, who won their last four games before the tournament by an average of 26.5 points. “We’re doing it together.”
Texas has won its last 15 games and held off the Tigers behind 25 points from Madison Booker, who was selected SEC Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches. She had more than half of her points (18) in the first half as the Longhorns took a 29-23 behind her 7-of-9 shooting from the field.
“Booker got us off to a great start,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said.
Schaefer called the victory against the Tigers “a toughness win.”
“And I told (the Longhorns) in the locker room, you better bring that toughness hat tomorrow, because that’s what championship Sunday is all about,” he added. “It’s about toughness, it’s about resilience. It’s about being able to come in here and compete at the highest level.”
–Field Level Media
