Gamecocks beat top-5 foe

Friday, January 25, 2013

— Dawn Staley has done a lot in her five seasons at South Carolina. Add beating a top-five team to her list of accomplishments.

The No. 18 Gamecocks (17-3, 5-2 SEC) beat No. 5 Kentucky 55-50 Thursday night, using their pressure defense to hold the Wildcats 30 points under their average. It was South Carolina’s first victory over a top-five team since 1998.

Staley has revived South Carolina’s program, leading the team to its first NCAA Tournament in nine years last season. But a victory over one of the elite programs has been just out of her reach, such as the four-point loss to then top-ranked Stanford in December.

“We kept coming up short against opponents like a Kentucky, like the Stanfords and Tennessees. I’m happy to see their hard work, what they put into it, paid off,” Staley said.

Kentucky (18-2, 6-1) led for most of the second half before the Gamecocks went on an 18-4 run to take a 52-44 lead with 3:34 left. South Carolina hit just three free throws down the stretch, but the defense hung on.

The Wildcats hadn’t lost since an 85-51 defeat to then-No. 1 Baylor on Nov. 13. But they appeared rattled at the end. O’Neil missed a teammate entirely with a pass with Kentucky down three with 17 seconds to go. The Wildcats turned it over again five seconds later as Ashley Bruner ended Kentucky’s last chance knocking away an inbound pass with 12.7 seconds left.

“This was the first time we have faced serious adversity,” O’Neil said. “Like Coach said, we didn’t have poise.”

Kentucky came into the game as the second-best offense in the SEC at 79 points a game. But the Wildcats ran into the best defense in the SEC. South Carolina allows just 48 points a game and has held every opponent but one to fewer than 60.

Kentucky went almost nine minutes without a point in the first half, and made just one basket in six minutes as South Carolina built its biggest lead of the game at eight points. The Wildcats shot 32.8 percent (19 of 58) from the field. A Kentucky team that led the SEC by forcing 10 more turnovers than its opponents, turned the ball over 18 times, two more than South Carolina.

South Carolina scored five more points on the fast break against a Kentucky team that prides itself on getting easy baskets after turning up the pressure.

“We just were not nearly as tough as them tonight,” Kentucky Coach Matthew Mitchell said.

The Gamecocks shot just 37.7 percent (20 of 53), but that is fine with Staley, especially when the game stays in the 50s.

“It’s exhausting to play as hard as we play defensively. It takes the wind out of you. But the crowd put the life back into us and we came up with some big plays,” Staley said.

Ieasia Walker had 16 points and eight rebounds, while Aleighsa Welch scored 11 points and had seven rebounds and Elem Ibiam added eight points and eight rebounds for South Carolina.

Jennifer O’Neil led Kentucky with 17 points, while DeNesha Stallworth added 12 points and 10 rebounds and A’dia Mathies also scored 12 points.

The Gamecocks even overcame their biggest weakness. South Carolina is next to-last in Division I in free throw shooting, making just 54 percent. But they hit 10 of their last 16 free throws, even though they shot just 48 percent from the line in the game (13 of 27).

The biggest free throws came with 13 seconds left as Welch went to the line for two shots and the Gamecocks ahead three points.

NO. 16 TEXAS A&M 81, MISSISSIPPI STATE 33

STARKVILLE, Miss.- Kristi Bellock scored 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting to lead No. 16 Texas A&M past Mississippi State.

Texas A&M (15-5, 5-1 SEC) shot 60 percent (29 of 48), well above its season average of 46.6 percent.

Mississippi State (8-11, 0-6) couldn’t muster much offense for Coach Vic Schaefer, a former Texas A&M assistant, in his first game against his old squad. The Bulldogs were 12-of-45 shooting and bested the worst offensive performances in program history by a single point - Mississippi State scored 32 points against Manhattan in 1985 and Auburn in 1986.

Texas A&M opened the game on an 11-4 run and led 39-19 at halftime. The Aggies extended that lead to 54-19 in the second half.

Adrienne Pratcher added 15 points for the Aggies and Kelsey Bone had 13 points.

Martha Alwal led Mississippi State with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

NO. 9 TENNESSEE 83, VANDERBILT 75

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Taber Spani scored a career-high 24 points and Meighan Simmons added 23 as No. 9 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt for the Lady Volunteers’ ninth consecutive victory.

Tennessee (16-3, 7-0) is the SEC’s last undefeated team in league play.

The Lady Vols have won 11 consecutive SEC games dating to last season and a loss here at Memorial Gym. They got a small measure of payback by beating Vanderbilt for the 25th time in 27 games in this series.

Bashaara Graves also had 16 points for Tennessee.

Christina Foggie scored 22 points to lead Vanderbilt (13-6, 3-3). Tiffany Clarke had 19 points and Kady Schrann added 14.

THURSDAY’S GAMES

Arkansas 58, Missouri 50 Mississippi 88, Florida 81 South Carolina 55, Kentucky 50 Texas A&M 81, Mississippi State 33 Alabama 61, Auburn 51 Tennessee 83, Vanderbilt 75

Sports, Pages 20 on 01/25/2013