The South Carolina women's basketball team picked up a rare road win on the Plains, Thursday night, defeating the very tough Auburn Tigers 61-58. The Gamecocks had previously beaten the Tigers at home by a margin of 14; the Tigers proved much more difficult to stop on their own floor.

Freshman center Kelsey Bone led the way for the Gamecocks, with her seventh double-double of the season: 24 points and 14 rebounds. She shot over 50% from the floor and hit all of her free throws. Junior guard Valerie Nainima was also in double figures with 20 points. Only 4 other Gamecocks scored at all; sophomore guard LaKeisha Sutton had 7 points and 4 assists.

The two teams were close for most of the first half; Auburn held the lead for a good bit of the half, but the Gamecocks took the lead back and had a 3-point margin, 34-31, at halftime. In the second half, they again led for much of the 20 minutes, building a lead of 8 points--but Auburn climbed back into the game and took their own 6-point lead. Offensive rebounding and excellent free-throw shooting kept the Gamecocks in it and gave them the win, along with defense that kept Auburn from even being able to get off a possible game-tying shot in the final 8 seconds of the game.

Junior guard Alli Smalley led the Tigers with 16 points on 5-6 shooting from 3-point range; senior center KeKe Carrier had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds and freshman point guard Morgan Toles also scored 14 points and had 5 assists for the Tigers.

The win brings the Gamecocks up to the .500 level at 5-5 in the SEC, with an overall record of 12-10. The Tigers drop to 12-11, 3-7 SEC.

The Gamecocks travel to Athens, Georgia on Sunday to take on the Bulldogs. They will be followed by a sold-out bus with 50 fans on board; it's not a bad drive. If you missed the bus, hop in the car and join us there.

Tipoff is scheduled for 2 pm.

(You'll have plenty of time to get home for the start of the Super Bowl)