South Carolina women's basketball: Ashlyn Watkins dunks, Gamecocks cruise
South Carolina Women’s Basketball: News • Recruiting • Schedule • Roster • Stats • SEC • Polls • Scholarships
Ahead of the big showdown against Stanford, South Carolina took care of business by beating Clemson 85-31.
Ideally, South Carolina would put Clemson away early, avoid injury, fine-tune some things, and be able to rest its starters by the fourth quarter. That is precisely what happened.
Early lead? Clemson scored first, but soon an 8-0 run put South Carolina ahead for good. The Gamecocks led by 12 after one quarter and then dominated the second quarter to go up 46-16 at halftime.
Avoid injury? Aliyah Boston rolled her right ankle on a layup in the second quarter and was taken out of the game. She did not receive any treatment on the bench and returned to the game. That was the only close call.
Fine-tuning? Point guards Kierra Fletcher and Raven Johnson, who struggled against Maryland, found their groove.
Rest the starters? Fletcher was the only starter to play in the fourth, and Olivia Thompson played all 10 minutes.
Subscribe to Gamecock Central until the 2023 football season for only $10!
The Gamecocks even checked off an extra box when freshman Ashlyn Watkins corralled a loose ball near midcourt and took it in for a one-handed dunk. The dunk is the first in program history.
“I was mind-blown. I went up to her and said do you even know what you did?” Zia Cooke said. “She’s so nonchalant. She doesn’t understand.”
“It’s just something that I usually do, and I had an opportunity to do it in a college game,” Watkins said. “I knew I was going for it. As soon as I got the steal and I saw nobody was in front of me, I didn’t know (the defender) was behind me, I just kept going.”
“I don’t think about it, I just go,” she added.
Dawn Staley had seen Watkins dunk “a million times” times in practice but didn’t think she had a clear path to do it Thursday night.
“That surprised me. She wasn’t really dribbling the ball up the floor smoothly,” she said. “I thought she was going to put it up over the rim, lay it up over the rim. But she turned it over. That’s pretty impressive.”
The only thing the Gamecocks didn’t check off was getting Boston a double-double. She was on her way to a triple-double with 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists, but only played 19 minutes, and sat the entire fourth quarter.
Become a “FAM” Member and support South Carolina women’s basketball players
The point guard play was much more consistent against Clemson. Fletcher got the start and finished with four points plus an assist, block, and steal in 12 minutes. Johnson had three points, a game-high five assists, and two blocks. Johnson had started the first two games, but Staley made a switch at halftime against Maryland so Johnson could run the second unit and play with Kamilla Cardoso.
“I feel like (Fletcher) is experienced, and it gives us an opportunity – you saw the Raven-Kamilla connection. It’s a real thing,” Staley said. “We need make sure to have them out there on the floor. They just have a connection. She throws it up there and Kamilla goes to get it. Kamilla probably hadn’t gone to get balls like that all of last year.”
South Carolina outscored Clemson 23-5 in the second quarter, holding the Tigers to 2-15 shooting. South Carolina made its first six three-point attempts and shot 59.3% for the game. Cooke continued her hot start to the season with a game-high 15, going 5-6 from the floor. Watkins added 14 points, and aside from the dunk, also made a three-pointer. She thought for a moment about whether she was more proud of the dunk or the three-pointer.
“I’ll probably say the three-pointer,” she said, smiling.
“I didn’t like our shot selection at all in the first half. It’s what I thought the separating factor was,” Amanda Butler said. “You try to emulate in practice someone’s pressure and length, and it just feels a little bit different in the game.”
South Carolina held Clemson to 24% shooting and just 3-19 from three. The 31 points scored by Clemson are the fewest in the rivalry, below the 36 Clemson scored in 2017.
The win is South Carolina’s 12th straight over Clemson, and broke a 33-33 all-time tie in the series. It is the first time South Carolina has led the series.
Subscribe (for free) to the Gamecock Central YouTube page!
Notes:
Victaria Saxton hit her first career three-pointer at the end of the first half. She did not attempt a three in her first three seasons. She was 0-1 as a senior (she threw up a shot to beat the shot clock in the SEC tournament championship), and 0-1 so far this season. … All 13 Gamecocks played, and everyone but Olivia Thompson and Talaysia Cooper scored. … Cardoso finished with seven points and six rebounds. … Laeticia Amihere and Sania Feagin also scored seven points each. … Aliyah Boston braids report: Boston has gone with purple braids with electric blue tips for the first three games. … Dawn Staley fit report: Staley wore a black jacket over a white t-shirt that read “Free Brittney Griner.” … Announced attendance was 3,051. It was the largest crowd of the season for Clemson, which had fewer than 900 fans in each of its last two games. The crowd was more than half Gamecock fans. … South Carolina’s next game is Sunday at #2 Stanford.
• Also see: South Carolina-Clemson box score (PDF)
