The South Carolina women’s basketball team had possibly the most exciting season opener ever, scratching out a 70-66 win over the Charlotte 49ers on their home court. It’s certainly the most interesting and competitive opener I’ve seen in quite a few years.

The Gamecocks suffered through a terrible first half, missing open shots and dropping passes, left and right. The frustration showed on the faces of several players. Both teams shot poorly in the first half, but the 49ers had a decided advantage with free throws by hitting over 90% of their chances while the Gamecocks missed all 3 of their own chances. The first half ended with the hosts leading 31-20 and a small, but rowdy home crowd screaming their support.

The second half was a different story, thankfully. The Gamecocks came out forcing the action, pressing relentlessly, and frequently substituting in a quicker defensive group for the press—then taking them back out when the ball changed hands again. The strategy worked well enough for the Gamecocks to erase the 11-point first half deficit and even manage a 6 point lead, near the end of the game. The 49ers never gave up, though, and kept fighting for every ball and shooting whenever open. With the game tied and about 10 seconds to go, the Gamecocks had a chance at a game-winning shot, but forced the ball in the direction of a double-teamed Kelsey Bone and turned the ball over. With 3.8 seconds left, the 49ers had an opportunity for a game-winner of their own, but Carolina’s defense prevented them from getting down the floor easily and a long-range shot (makeable, but rushed) from Ashley Spriggs was no good.

In the overtime, Carolina took a quick lead with a 3-pointer by Samone Kennedy and never trailed after that. The 49ers free throw shooting fell off, from 92% in the first half and 66% in the second half to only 50% in overtime. Otherwise, we may very well have had to play a second overtime to decide the game. Both teams were playing fierce defense and showing a take-no-prisoners attitude in their approach to the game.

Would that the officiating crew had done the same. Led by the intrepid Dee Kantner, that threesome fell a little short of the mark, in my opinion. I am in no way alleging that there was any sort of favoritism involved here, perhaps not even a lack of effort. But there were definitely some phantom calls and Bonnie Pettus blew the whistle on a 5-second call that defied all logic. As annoying as Dee Kantner can be, with her grandstanding style of officiating, at least one can say that she makes it as clear as can be when she is counting down the seconds of a player’s possession of the ball. Like most officials, she extends an arm and indicates the seconds with her fingers. Pettus seemed to just decide that it was time and blew her whistle. She also called travelling against a player who was dribbling, in stride, down the court. But enough about the officials, back to the game.

Kelsey Bone led the Gamecocks in scoring with 22 points and added 11 rebounds to post a double-double in the first game of her collegiate career. Junior guard Valerie Nainima matched her 22 points and had 4 assists. Sophomore post player Charenee Stephens led the team in rebounding with 12 and scored 9 points on 3-5 shooting, from both the field and the free throw line. She also had a very timely blocked shot near the end of the overtime period that brought the Gamecock’s fans to their feet. Diminutive guard Samone Kennedy pitched in with 5 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 5 assists.

The 49ers were led by junior guard Shannon McCallum’s 25 points and 9 rebounds, 11 points and 8 rebounds from senior forward Erin Floyd and 16 points and 7 rebounds from senior guard Aysha Jones.

The Gamecocks travel to Clemson on Thursday for their next game.