South Carolina women's basketball: Rapid Reaction - Anderson

South Carolina beat Anderson 112-31 in an exhibition on Friday night. Here are three things that stood out from the win.

– With the starting lineup set, the question going into the game was how Dawn Staley would utilize her bench. Maddy McDaniel was first off the bench, replacing Raven Johnson. Then Agot Makeer replaced Ta’Niya Latson. 

Adhel Tac and Ayla McDowell followed, with Maryam Dauda the last to get in the game as a replacement for Joyce Edwards. However, by that point Staley was substituting based on game flow, so don’t read too much into that just yet.

It seemed like Staley wanted to get Edwards into a groove,  which played into Dauda’s long sit.

– Anderson only played one player over 6-0, so Madina Okot and Adhel Tac didn’t really get tested. But Tac played to her height, grabbing eight rebounds to go with seven points. 

Okot had an eye-opening game. She didn’t just play bigger than Anderson; she was quick, skilled, and smart. She hit a pull-up jumper off a dribble-drive, got behind the defense on a fast break for a layup, scored off a spin move in the paint, and found fellow transfer Ta’Niya Latson for a layup. That was just the first half.

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Okot continued to have a great all-around game. She scored in the low post and the midrange, passed, defended, and even had a breakaway steal and layup. Okot finished with 17 points, 15 rebounds, six blocks, and three steals.

She wasn’t just the imposing big that South Carolina was missing last season. She was skilled, versatile, and efficient. That’s even more than South Carolina was hoping for. But boy, that basic through it up to the big girl and let her score play was nice to see again.

– The same asterisk applies to freshmen Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell, who faced tougher competition playing for their national teams over the summer. But they did what was asked of them.

McDowell was solid, scoring six points and dishing some nice passes. But Makeer was outstanding. I’ve been hyping up Makeer for over a year, and even I didn’t expect her to look that good.

Makeer was second off the bench, and she rewarded that confidence with 16 points, six rebounds, five steals, and four assists. All offseason I said the freshmen don’t have to make a major impact; they just have to be capable of holding their own to give another player some rest. But Makeer looked like an impact player.

The big test comes next week when she faces much better competition in North Carolina.

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