The South Carolina women's basketball team hosts Wake Forest at the Colonial Life Arena on Thursday night. 

The two teams met, last season, for one of those matinee games in Winston-Salem and the Demon Deacons ran all over the Gamecocks in the second half, to grab a 74-57 win. Largely, the Deacons stole the game; they were the national leader in steals, last season, and they had 19 steals against the Gamecocks (who totalled a more typical 6 for the game.)  Their was only a one-point difference at halftime, but at the end of the game the Gamecocks had given up 32 turnovers, along with the 19 steals. Despite a better shooting percentage than the Deacs and a 16-rebound advantage, Wake Forest took 71 shots to the Gamecocks' 28 to erase whatever statistical advantages the Gamecocks had.

At that time, the South Carolina team was still led by seniors Demetress Adams and Brionna Dickerson, so the current team will be a new look for Wake Forest to deal with.

Wake will be fielding an interesting mix of experience ( 4 seniors, 3 juniors and 2 sophomores) and also bringing in 4 true freshman and 1 redshirt freshman. The Deacons lost their two top scoring threats to graduation,  so a lot of part-time players from last season will need to step up and serve as leaders and full-time players. They still have a lot of weapons and despite losing about 27 points per game, they have retained the majority of their rebounding, steals and blocked shots, in addition to their assists leader.

The Gamecocks could enjoy a height advantage, especially if sophomore post player Charenee Stephens finds her way back onto the court and is able to help out freshman center Kelsey Bone and junior post Jewel May down in the paint. The Deacons have a handful of big girls, but their 3 tallest players are pretty short on experience. May and Stephens don't have that problem and Kelsey Bone is coming along just fine, progressing as expected.  Guard play is vastly improved over the team that took the floor, last year, and the Deacons didn't have to worry about guarding junior guard Valerie Nainima, who has been leading the team in scoring.

Thursday's game should be a lot different than last year's contest and between the team changes and the (possible) home court "advantage", expect the Gamecocks to come out on top, this time around. Tipoff is at 7 pm at Colonial Life Arena.