The South Carolina women's basketball team went to Athens on Sunday to face the 14th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and stunned them into submission, 52-42, in Stegeman Coliseum.

South Carolina came out strong and never wilted, along the way earning freshman center Kelsey Bone her third SEC Freshman of the Week award. Bone had 8 points and 6 rebounds in the Georgia game, part of a reasonably balanced South Carolina attack. The scoring was led by junior guard Valerie Nainima, who had 21 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in a game that featured the usual physical SEC play, but not too terribly many foul calls. Speaking of free throws, the Gamecocks had half as many attempts as the Bulldogs, but hit 6-7 for a blistering 85%. The Bulldogs got 14 shots, but made only 8 of them.

The Bulldogs, the #1 ranked defensive team in the league, may have been happy with the 36.8% shooting of the Gamecocks--under normal circumstances. However, the Gamecocks held the Bulldogs to only 28.6% shooting to help secure the win. South Carolina had an edge on the boards in the first half, but eventually lost the rebounding battle to Georgia, 39-40. Sophomore forward Charenee Stephens led both teams in rebounding with 10; junior forward Jewel May (who rarely shows up big on a stat sheet, despite her consistent on-court contributions) added 7 rebounds, 3 points and a blocked shot. She also had a very timely 3-point play, late in the game, to solidify the Gamecock lead.

The Bulldogs were led by Jasmine James with 11 points and 8 rebounds and Porsha Phillips with 9 points and 8 rebounds. Senior guard Ashley Houts, a "game day decision" due to a recently sprained ankle, did both start and play, but did not offer her usual production. She had 6 points, 4 personal fouls and 4 turnovers in 25 minutes of play and made some rather unusual on-court moves that did not benefit her team. A couple of her foul calls came when she aggressively tried to solicit a charging call, but was called for blocking, instead. Considering that she had already tried a couple of no-call defensive flops, those were not the type of decisions expected of a senior player. Angel Robinson took a hard fall, apparently hitting her head, when she came careening into the South Carolina bench early in the game; she did not return to play.

The officiating at this game was pretty much unremarkable, which is a compliment to the officiating team. They monitored the on-court play without interfering with it; they seemed to irritate both teams equally, which is a good sign. I think they missed a few travelling calls (for each team) but that was also pretty even and as such, did not affect the outcome of the game. Good job, refs.

 

The Gamecocks had a fan bus, filled to capacity, present at the game. The extra 50 voices of support were heard loud and clear, despite an unfortunate placement in the upper level of Stegeman. Not bad seats, at all--but not where a boisterous fan would like to be, especially in a hostile environment. Do you ever ask yourself why it is that teams visiting the Colonial Life Arena are given EXCELLENT access to their team (for women's games, the entire arena--save 2 sections--are general admission seating) including right behind the bench? Then, when travelling to Georgia or Tennessee (or other SEC teams) one is likely to find oneself high in the upper deck, behind glass, surrounded by the home team's fans? I'm just sayin'...

 

The Gamecocks will host the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Thursday night at Colonial Life Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 pm.