South Carolina women top Vandy

COLUMBIA, S. C. — Aleighsa Welch scored a career-high 19 points and South Carolina won its seventh consecutive game with a 65-55 victory over No. 24 Vanderbilt on Thursday night.

The Gamecocks ( 13-2) opened 2-0 in the SEC for the first time in 10 years, disrupting the Commodores (12-2, 0-1) with their pressure defense. Vanderbilt was held to its fewest points of the season and committed 26 turnovers against a defense that ranked second only to powerhouse Connecticut in points allowed this season.

“No one has pressured us like that all year,” Vanderbilt Coach Melanie Balcomb said.

That was evident when South Carolina broke open a 25-25 tie with a 10-0 run to close the first half. Vanderbilt had four of its 16 first-half turnovers during the stretch.

South Carolina increased its lead to 42-29 on Charenee Stephens’ three-point play with 16:53 to go and the Commodores got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Stephens had 11 points and

SOUTH CAROLINA 65, NO. 24 VANDERBILT 55

eight rebounds for the Gamecocks, while La’keisha Sutton had 10 points and played smothering defense on Vanderbilt’s top scorer coming in, Christina Foggie.

Foggie had just nine points, eight fewer than her average, on 3 of 9 shooting. Foggie had scored 27 in Vanderbilt’s last game against Western Carolina before leaving that contest with a bruised collarbone. She had started the night second in SEC scoring.

Tiffany Clarke led Vanderbilt with 13 points.

Vanderbilt, which came in leading the SEC in three-point shooting, made only one of six attempts from behind the arc. It didn’t help the Commodores’ comeback chances, either, when 6-4 Stephanie Holzer picked up her fourth foul less than five minutes into the second half.

Balcomb said it was nearly impossible to simulate South Carolina’s pressure during practice.

“They are physical,” she said. “We knew everything they were going to do and they did it well.”

Welch was a big reason why. The freshman forward surpassed her previous high of 16 set against Xavier in November. She continually stung the Commodores on the offensive boards with six of her seven rebounds for the game coming on that end of the floor. Welch was 7 of 10 from the field and missed just one of her six free throws.

“I didn’t think she would come in and have an immediate effect for as long stretches as she has,” South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley said of Welch.

Vanderbilt hadn’t lost an SEC opener since falling to Arkansas to start league play in 2005-2006. But South Carolina’s intense defense and speed put the Commodores on their heels midway through the opening period.

Vanderbilt’s size edge with Holzer helped the Commodores control things early and grab a 10-6 less than six minutes in. That’s when the Gamecocks’ in-your-face defense began to disrupt Vanderbilt. The Commodores had seven consecutive turnovers during one stretch as the Gamecocks moved in front 18-10.

Vanderbilt and Foggie found their scoring touch and tied the game at 25-25. Foggie had a basket and two free throws and Clarke a three-point play to catch the Gamecocks.

South Carolina turned up the pressure again with a 10-0 run the final 3:54 of the half to lead 35-25 at the break.

“Our game plan was to get them out of their offensive flow,” Welch said.

Vanderbilt came in averaging 15.1 turnovers a game but had 16 in the first 20 minutes.

NO. 6 TENNESSEE 80, NO. 16 GEORGIA 51

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Glory Johnson had 22 points and 13 rebounds as No. 6 Tennessee pulled away from No. 16 Georgia.

Ariel Massengale scored 15 of her 19 points before halftime, while Johnson did most of her work after the break. Johnson has 1,331 career points and is four rebounds shy of 1,000.

Johnson hit the first basket of the second half to give Tennessee a 38-27 lead, but Lady Bulldogs scored the next five points to cut the margin to six points. The Lady Volunteers (11-3, 2-0 SEC) answered with a 14-4 run to pull away.

Meredith Mitchell led the Lady Bulldogs (12-3, 1-1) with 14 points.