South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks use incredible fourth-quarter comeback to survive Stanford
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#1 South Carolina battled back from a ten-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat #2 Stanford 76-71 in overtime.
The matchup between the top two teams in the country, the favorites to play for the national championship, came with immense hype. It not only lived up to the epic hype, but it surpassed it with one unbelievable play after another.
Stanford took a quick four-point lead in overtime, but Bree Hall hit a three to get South Carolina back in the game. Laeticia Amihere drew a critical fifth foul on Cameron Brink, sending her to the bench, and then made both free throws to give the Gamecocks their first lead since the first quarter.
Brea Beal blocked a Hayley Jones layup and then Hall hit another three to put South Carolina up 73-69 with 41 seconds left and seemingly clinch the win. But Boston committed her fifth foul on Kiki Iriafen with 28.8 seconds left, and she made both free throws to cut the lead in half. That set up a final thirty seconds that had almost everything imaginable.
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Victoria Saxton missed a pair of free throws, but Amihere managed to force a tie-up, and the Gamecocks held the possession arrow. The Cardinal played defense instead of fouling immediately, and Agnes Emma-Nnopu stripped Kamilla Cardoso and called an immediate timeout, Stanford’s last of the game.
Stanford advanced the ball to the frontcourt, but South Carolina’s defense rose to the occasion again. Jones couldn’t inbound the ball and was called for a five-second violation. Again, Beal missed both free throws. Iriafen grabbed the rebound and immediately called a timeout, forgetting that Stanford was out of timeouts. Zia Cooke sank the ensuing technical free throws to finally seal the win for South Carolina.
The Gamecocks erased a ten-point fourth-quarter comeback behind outstanding defense to force overtime. The Cardinal led 54-44 entering the fourth quarter, but were held without a field goal for nearly eight minutes as the Gamecocks slowly chipped away at the lead.
Stanford still led 60-54 with two minutes to play. Aliyah Boston scored and then Brea Beal hit a three with 14 seconds left to trim the deficit to one. South Carolina fouled Hayley Jones, who only made one of two free throws, leaving the door open for South Carolina. Boston’s first shot attempt was blocked out of bounds. She got another look on the inbounds play and her floater bounced around the rim and in with 2.1 seconds left, sending the game to overtime.
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Stanford led by as much as 12 in the first half as South Carolina’s offense sputtered. Aliyah Boston picked up her second foul with two minutes left in the first quarter and had only played six minutes in the first half, and South Carolina made just five of its first 21 shot attempts.
Dawn Staley went deep into her bench to find a spark. Ashlyn Watkins and Sania Feagin got turns playing while Boston sat, and little-used Olivia Thompson even saw the court. Thompson responded with a three-pointer in transition and then helped force a turnover to spark a 9-0 Gamecock run.
Brink had 12 points in the first half and repeatedly created mismatches with her quickness and length. But like Boston, she picked up her second foul and had to sit. She was on the bench when South Carolina made its run in the second quarter. The foul trouble impacted both Brink and Boston. Not only did they have to have to sit for extended periods, but they struggled to get back into a rhythm until the fourth quarter.
Brink scored six of Stanford’s seven fourth-quarter points and she scored the first four points of the fourth quarter before fouling out. She finished with 25 points, five rebounds, and four blocks. Boston finished with another double-double, going for 14 points and 13 rebounds. She did most of her damage in the fourth quarter and overtime, when she had eight points, nine rebounds, a block, and a key assist.
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Staley relied on depth in the first half, but she leaned more on experience and versatility late in the game. Cooke was scoreless in the first half but finished with 13 points and four assists. Hall came off the bench to add a career-high 12 points. Stanford was leaving point guards Keirra Fletcher and Raven Johnson unguarded to double Boston, so Staley moved Cooke to point guard. That brought in Hall to match up with Stanford’s big guards. When Cardoso couldn’t keep up with Stanford’s long, quick forward on the perimeter, Staley went to Amihere, who had nine points, six rebounds, and some huge plays down the stretch.
Notes:
South Carolina has won 16 consecutive games against ranked opponents, the longest streak in SEC history. The last loss was to Stanford in the 2021 Final Four. … Stanford had won its last three home games against no. 1-ranked opponents. Stanford drops to 0-8 against top-ranked team while ranked no. 2. … Stanford outrebounded South Carolina 47-41 and kept the Gamecocks off the offensive glass (14 offensive rebounds and 14 second-chance points). … South Carolina made up the difference by protecting the ball. The Gamecocks had 18 points off 22 Cardinal turnovers. They only turned the ball over 11 times for nine points off. … Aliyah Boston braids report: Boston has not changed her look yet this season and wore purple braids with electric blue highlights. … Dawn Staley fit report: Staley and VanDerveer wore white long-sleeve shirts honoring Brittney Griner. The shirts are sold by the WNBA Players’ Association to raise money for Griner’s legal fees. … Announced attendance was 7,287, officially a sellout. … South Carolina stays on the west coast and will play Cal Poly on Tuesday.
