UA women no match for No. 4 South Carolina
FAYETTEVILLE — Unable to overcome the unranked SEC likes of LSU, Missouri and Georgia at home, it figured that the Arkansas Razorbacks would get thumped at home by nationally No. 4 SEC leader South Carolina.
And they did. South Carolina pulverized Arkansas 79-49 Sunday afternoon before 919 at Walton Arena also nationally witnessed by an ESPN2 audience.
Coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks improved to 20-2 overall and 10-1 in the SEC while coach Jimmy Dykes’ Razorbacks drop to 13-10 overall and 2-8 in the SEC with SEC road games upcoming Thursday night at Florida and Sunday at Missouri.
Alaina Coates, the Gamecocks 6-4 center, double-doubled by half with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Coates finished the game with a career high 19 rebounds, four assists and with 18 points shared game-high scoring honors with 6-5 teammate A’ja Wilson.
Three Gamecocks guards, Kaela Davis, Allisha Gray and Bianc Cuevas-Moore, scored 10 each.
“Obviously they are one of the teams favored to go to the Final Four ,and we all saw why,” Dykes said. “Their size can overwhelm not only us but can overwhelm about every team in the country except four or five. Even (No. 1) I don’t think there is another team in the country, not even UConn (No. 1 and the defending national champion) has two like Coates and Wilson. They are huge, they can run, they don’t drop balls. They are the real deal. South Carolina is better than last year because they don’t just have size, but their perimeter game (5 of 14 threes) is better than it was last year.”
Coates was similarly effective against Kentucky after not playing well during South Carolina’s lone SEC loss to Tennessee.
“I had hit lulls in my play, and I definitely wanted to stop the lulls and be a piece of the puzzle that we need,” Coates said Sunday. “The Tennessee loss is still in our heads, but we can’t dwell on it other than not to let it happen again.”
Freshman Aaliyah Wilson of Muskogee, Okla., led Arkansas scoring 16 off the bench as Dykes noted his five starters scored but one basket each.
“When your starters combine for five made baskets,” Dykes said in shock, “I don’t think I have ever seen that in a basketball game. We knew we had to shoot the ball to keep this a 12 to 15-point game, and we didn’t. It’s hard against their size. Aaliyah (6 of 13 including 3 of 7 threes) was the only one who shot the ball today.”
Arkansas hit but 18 of 65 from the field.
Sunday’s game seemed over almost as quickly as it began. The Gamecocks scored the game’s first seven points.
By 6:15 of the first quarter South Carolina not only led 112, but Jessica Jackson, Arkansas’ leading scorer averaging 15.1 points going into the game with 15 and 26 points in her last efforts at LSU and home against Missouri, was on the bench with two fouls.
Johnson didn’t play the remainder which South Carolina ended up 21-10.
Jackson of Jacksonville did play all the 10 minutes of the second quarter but couldn’t the deter the Gamecocks from leading 43-25 at intermission. For the game Jackson hit but 1 of 11 shots for just two points with five rebounds.
“She was 1 for 11 and 0 for 5 from three,” Dykes said. “She was in foul trouble early, and it got her out of rhythm and got us out of rhythm.”
Staley said, “She is a really big part of what they do, so to carve out a space to put her on the bench with early foul trouble really hurt their cause.”
Only outrebounding Arkansas 21-20 in the first half, South Carolina capitalized on Arkansas’ seven turnovers the first 20 minutes while only committing three.
At the half South Carolina outscored Arkansas 13-2 on points off turnovers and outshoot Arkansas 17 of 33 vs. 11 of 37 from the first half field and from the first half free throw line 6 of 7 to Arkansas’ 1 of 2.
South Carolina dominated the second half boards to finish rebounding up 46-30.