The South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball team (0-1) hosts Clemson in their home opener on Wednesday, November 19th.
Fresh off of an ugly loss at Penn State, 42-56 , the Gamecocks return home to play two games before flying to Cancun, Mexico for a holiday tournament.
The Gamecocks haven’t lost a game to Clemson since a 79-87 overtime loss on 12/3/2004. In fact, the last 3 contests have been blowouts. Seniors Demetress Adams, Brionna Dickerson and C. J. Pace would like to keep that streak going and be the first class to go undefeated against Clemson in 25 years. (The Class of ‘83 was the last team to do so.)
It’s certainly a possibility.
The teams look fairly similar on paper. Both are very young: Clemson has a packed roster of 15 players, but 6 of them are freshmen (one redshirt) and 4 more are sophomores. Their lone senior, Tasha Taylor, returns this season after a redshirt season, due to injury.
The Lady Tigers, under the leadership of 4th year coach Cristy McKinney, are 32-58 during her first three years. They were wildly inconsistent while compiling last season’s 12-19 record. With only 1 quality win (84-73 over Virginia Tech) through the end of February, they somehow found a way to beat Florida State 72-70 in the season finale (they had been trounced by FSU, 39-63, only 6 weeks earlier) and then stunned North Carolina State, 65-60 in overtime, at their conference tournament. After that, reality set in again and they were soundly beaten by UNC (97-77) to end their season.
The Gamecocks have 5 freshmen and 4 sophomores on their roster, but also return senior leaders/starters Adams and Dickerson, who will be counted on to lead their young teammates all season long. Senior C.J. Pace returns from academic ineligibility, sophomore Courtney Newton returns from a serious knee injury and freshmen Miranda Tate and Lakeisha Sutton (both signed by Staley) join fellow freshmen Tonia Williams, Charenee Stephens and Sada Wheeler (signed by former coach Walvius, last November.) Junior Valerie Nainima, a transfer from Long Island University, will be eligible to play after sitting out this season.
Despite the coaching turnover, player graduations and player defections since the end of the ‘07-08 season, the Gamecocks have actually enjoyed a certain level of consistency over the past few years, falling just short of wins over top programs and playing in the WNIT 3 years in a row. The team has responded well to the leadership of new head coach Dawn Staley and may be ready to turn the corner that has seemed so close–yet, so far away--during the past 3 years. The Gamecocks looked a little ragged, at times, in their exhibition game against Peach State Elite, but they were able to focus and climb back into the game, establish a lead and protect it for the win. The same formula did not work as well against Penn State, a tough place to play under the best of circumstances. The Carolina circumstances are a little less than ideal. Already, the Gamecocks are working with a short roster, with Courtney Newton recovering from minor problems with her right knee (not the knee that kept her out, last season) and Charenee Stephens taking some time off to deal with personal issues. Of the ten available players, four were playing in their first college game and 2 more have seen very limited playing time. The experience at Penn State, difficult though it may be, will benefit the young players–who should be aware that it really doesn’t get all that much easier over the course of the season. In fact, the conference season is a little bit tougher. But they will continue to improve over the course of the season and the Staley system will become more natural to them. And they did play Penn State much closer in the second half (within 4 points) which gives them something positive to build on.
Hard work should pay off with some unexpected victories, this season, but the win over Clemson should not be a surprise. South Carolina will have the home court advantage: a familiar court and loud, raucous fans behind them. Most importantly, the South Carolina Gamecocks are simply the better team.
The game is Wednesday, November 19th at the Colonial Life Center and starts at 7 pm.
