South Carolina women's basketball: South Carolina pulls away in the second half to beat Alabama

Joyce Edwards scored 25 points and Raven Johnson added 17 as South Carolina beat Alabama 83-57 to open SEC play.

South Carolina played without injured guard Ta’Niya Latson, the team in scoring and assists. Her absence was felt in the first three quarters as South Carolina endured several scoring lulls.

South Carolina opened the game on a 10-2 run, and it looked like the SEC opener would be a cakewalk. Then South Carolina went cold and Alabama closed the gap. It was a recurring trend for the first three quarters.

In the first three quarters, South Carolina had four separate stretches of at least 1:50 without a field goal, including two different three-minute stretches. Those lulls allowed Alabama to stay close for about 25 minutes.

“We had to make some adjustments because they were burning us with certain late shot clock plays,” Dawn Staley said. “This is what they do to us.”

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South Carolina took control of the game with an 11-0 third-quarter run that lasted 5:31. The run put South Carolina up 20. A 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter put the game out of reach.

Johnson tied her season high with 15 points in the first half. She finished with 17 points, five assists, and four rebounds. She finished one point shy of her career-high, set in 2023.

“I was just letting the game come to me, but I knew I had to be aggressive since Ta’Niya’s not here and pick up the slack (for what) she brings,” Johnson said.

Edwards scored 11 of her 25 points in the third quarter to take control. She did what she does best, running the floor to get buckets in transition.

“We were running in transition so they couldn’t keep both their bigs in,” Edwards said. “We were getting a lot of shot blocks at the same time and just playing basketball.”

Agot Makeer started in place of Latson, instead of the more experienced Maddy McDaniel. Makeer gives South Carolina a longer and more athletic defender in the lineup. Makeer had nine points and four rebounds with a steal and a block, and gave South Carolina the expected boost defensively.

“The decision was: We’ve got to get her going. That’s one,” Staley said. “Two, it’s usually probably Mouse, because I didn’t want to put both point guards in the (starting lineup) at once because we play our point guards heavy minutes.”

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After a poor showing last weekend against Providence, South Carolina looked much better defensively. Abalama shot just 36.7% overall and 31.0% from three. The Crimson Tide hit 3-7 from three in the second quarter when it outscored South Carolina 19-16, but was just 6-22 for the rest of the game. 

“Coach said we had to play defense, so we had to play defense,” Edwards said. “It was that simple.”

Diana Collins scored 17 points, and Jessica Timmons added 12. They hit one contested shot after another, but it wasn’t enough for Alabama.

Notes:

Ta’Niya Latson had a boot on her left foot and remains day-to-day. She wore black sweats and sat on the bench next to Chloe Kitts, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. … Madina Okot had 11 points and nine rebounds, falling short of her 11th double-double of the season. Raegan Beers, who is tied with Okot, plays at 8:00 ET on Thursday. … South Carolina outrebounded Alabama 43-29. … South Carolina had 25 fast break points while allowing just four. … The Gamecocks finished plus-seven in turnover and plus-nine in points off turnovers. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore a black sweater with white stars. … Announced attendance was 14,367. … South Carolina’s next game is on Sunday at Florida.

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