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South Carolina women's basketball: Three things we learned last week

On3 imageby: Chris Wellbaum01/20/25ChrisWellbaum
dawn-staley_54276181424_o-South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball vs Oklahoma-Jan 19 2025-Credit Katie Dugan GamecockCentral

Last week, South Carolina women’s basketball gutted out a road win at Alabama and blew out Oklahoma at home to stay undefeated in the SEC. What did we learn from the impressive wins?

1. South Carolina’s defense is still elite

South Carolina’s offense can still be inconsistent (although there certainly weren’t any problems on Sunday). Last week, there were turnover issues. Against Alabam, it was poor shooting 3-20 on threes). There have been games where they only had single-digit assists. 

It doesn’t matter if the other team can’t score. You don’t have to search hard to find a team that won a national championship with an elite defense and inconsistent offense. The Gamecocks did it in 2022.

This season’s defense isn’t as good as that defense, which had Aliyah Boston and Brea Beal, two of the best defenders in program history, plus Destanni Henderson and Kamilla Cardoso. But the 2025 Gamecock offense, despite some inconsistencies, is also much better.

Here’s a breakdown:

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2. South Carolina is resilient

The Gamecocks haven’t been challenged much since the UCLA game almost two months ago, so it was fair to wonder how they would handle a tight game. We have an answer.

South Carolina was seriously tested by Alabama and aced the exam. The offense was shaky all game, and shots weren’t falling. Alabama cut the lead to four late in the third quarter and had momentum and the home crowd behind it. 

The Gamecocks didn’t flinch. Joyce Edwards scored to end the third, and they went to her repeatedly in the fourth quarter. She scored 11 of her career-high 21 points in the fourth, and the Gamecocks finished the game on a 12-2 run that gave them a deceptive 76-58 win.

We learned that South Carolina has its closer in Edwards, and as a group, they understand what they need to do to win.

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3. The SEC Freshman of the Year race is heating up

With apologies to Florida’s Liv McGill, it’s down to a two-person race for the conference’s Freshman of the Year: Joyce Edwards and Mikayla Blakes. On Sunday, Blakes scored the game-winning putback in Vanderbilt’s 71-70 upset of #15 Tennessee, while Edwards led South Carolina in scoring again.

Blakes has the advantage in pure numbers. She’s averaging 20.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.4 steals. By comparison, Edwards averages 12.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.2 steals. 

But Blakes is playing about 10 minutes more per game than Edwards. Plus, being the leading scorer on the No. 2 team in the country deserves some bonus points.

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