Bench play is key for South Carolina
South Carolina certainly has front-line, championship talent with All-American Aliyah Boston and top scorer Zia Cooke. And they’re backed by a bench that’s secondto-none in the women’s game.
“It’s not just the starting five that can make things happen,” Cooke said.
The Gamecocks’ reserves lead the nation in bench points at 36.6 per game. Kamilla Cardoso, the 6-foot-7 SEC sixth woman of the year, is third on the team in scoring with an average of 9.7 points without starting once.
Laeticia Amihere, part of the heralded recruiting class four years ago with starters Boston, Cooke and Brea Beal, is fourth in scoring at 7.3 points in 16.3 minutes per game — also without a start.
Reserve point guard Raven Johnson leads with 116 assists and 37 steals in limited action.
“It’s always like, ‘Oh, we’re coming off the bench,’” Gamecocks sophomore Bree Hall said. “No, that’s not how we think. We go out there, and we think, ‘Let’s go out there and go hard and bring whatever we can to the table.’”
The Gamecocks (34-0) continue their chase of an undefeated season and second straight national championship at the Greenville 1 Regional, about 90 minutes from campus. South Carolina, which has won 40 straight games, takes on fourth-seeded UCLA (27-9) on Saturday.
Second-seeded Maryland (27-6) faces No. 3 seed Notre Dame (27-5) in the other regional semifinal contest. The winners play Monday night for a trip to the Final Four in Dallas.
Much of this four-team pod relies on its benches. UCLA is 37th nationally with its reserves scoring 23.5 points per game. Maryland is 46th in the country at 22.9 points from its bench players, and Notre Dame is 112th at 19.5 points from backups.
UCLA coach Cori Close said championship programs are built on the loyalty and sacrifice of talented players accepting a lesser role.
“Credit to the commitment of those kids that would be starting and getting lots of minutes on a lot of other rosters,” she said.
The Gamecocks roster features nine McDonald’s All-Americans, six who come off the bench. The talentrich team leads the nation with 30.6-point margin of victory this season.
Boston has averaged 25 minutes a game this season, fewer than the past two seasons. Having skilled backups has given her more rest time and left her fresher for finishes, if necessary.
“They come in and they dominate, which is really good,” she said.
Morris, LSU top Utah, into Elite Eight: LaDazhia Williams was determined to extend her career. Thanks to her best game of the season, her LSU teammates will get to keep playing, too.
“I’m not ready to home,” she said. “We already know where we want to go.”
Williams and the third-seeded Tigers reached the Elite Eight for the first time in 15 years, holding off No. 2 seed Utah 66-63 on Friday night.
Williams had a season-high 24 points to boost LSU (31-2).
Alexis Morris, another fifth-year transfer like Williams, had 15 points. Her two foul shots with 10 seconds left put LSU ahead for good, 64-63. She later made two more free throws.
“We’re just hungry right now,” Morris said. “I know we’re fueled up and we’re fired up. We’re one game away from going to the Final Four.”
Angel Reese added 17 points and 12 rebounds for her 31st double double of the season.
Miami holds on, beats Villanova for 1st trip to Elite 8: The horn sounded and Miami coach Katie Meier turned to start jumping and hugging her staff as players and cheerleaders sprinted past for a meet-at-midcourt celebration. She soon made her way into the crowd to embrace players hollering with delight.
Soon she emerged through the other side to trade hugs and high-fives with a front-row section of Hurricanes fans.
An improbable and emotional ride to the program’s first Elite Eight appearance in the women’s NCAA Tournament was worth sharing with as many people as she could.
“I can’t believe it,” Meier said afterward. “I’m not going to act cool. This is awesome.”
Jasmyne Roberts scored a career-high 26 points — including a stick-back for the go-ahead, three-point play with 38.8 seconds left — to help Miami overcome blowing a 21-point lead and beat Villanova 70-65 on Friday, pulling the program to within a win of the Final Four.