WBB: Carolina claims sweet victory over K-State
Photo Gallery by Chris Gillespie
South Carolina dominated Kansas State 73-47 Sunday night at Colonial Life Arena to advance to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row. Tiffany Mitchell was outstanding in her final home game, scoring 20 points.
There was no slow start for the Gamecocks in the second round. After a brief 2-1 lead by the Wildcats, the Gamecocks never trailed again. They dominated every facet of the game and held the Wildcats to 13 or fewer points in each of the four quarters.
Kansas State tied the game at 7, but Mitchell converted a three-point play to kick off a 10-2 run that put South Carolina in front for good. That run gave South Carolina an 18-13 lead after the first quarter, and it turned the game into a blowout in the second quarter.
Bianca Cuevas starter the quarter with a three from the corner. Breanna Lewis answered with a basket in the paint, but South Carolina would hold Kansas State scoreless for the next four minutes. During that span, South Carolina went on a 9-0 run. Khadijah Sessions scored a layup off an offensive rebound, A'ja Wilson drove the lane for a layup, Mitchell made a free throw, and Sarah Imovbioh and Alaina Coates both added second-chance buckets to complete the run.
In the final minute of the half, Mitchell cemented the Gamecocks' hold on the game. After USC head coach Dawn Staley called her use-it-or-lose-it timeout with 51 seconds left, Mitchell came off a screen and buried a three. Then after a Sarah Imovbioh rebound with five second left, she dribbled nearly the length of the court, pulling up just inside the free throw line to bury a floater. The five-point flurry capped a second quarter that saw the Gamecocks outscore the Wildcats 27-13. For the entire half, South Carolina forced 10 Kansas State turnovers that it converted into 17 points.
"Turnovers gave us a problem - their pressure really got into us on the wings and that took away almost any advantage we might have," Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said. "Let’s give South Carolina credit. They really pressured us. We did have some communication issues where we didn’t want to throw the ball, and that was on us. When we made some mistakes, they jumped on them, and that’s to their credit, because many times you get away with those mistakes against lesser teams, but tonight when we made mistakes, they jumped on them.”
In the third quarter, South Carolina clamped down defensively. Kansas State shot 22 percent in the period, and Wilson lived up to her Defensive Player of the Year billing. Lewis scored 15 points in the first half while Wilson was on the bench with foul trouble. In the third quarter, Wilson was finally free to play her game and she manhandled Lewis. Wilson held Lewis to 2 points on 1-5 shooting, forced a turnover, blocked two shots, grabbed four rebounds, and drew a pair of fouls on Lewis to score four points.
"Our post players are a big part of what we do," Mitchell said. "When one goes out you've got to pick it up on the defensive end so we can create some offense."
But the game belonged to Mitchell and Coates. They picked up the slack when Wilson was sidelined in the first half with foul trouble. With 14 points and 10 rebounds, Coates had her fifth double-double in 10 career tournament games. In addition to her 20 points, Mitchell had four rebounds, four steals, and four assists.
"She knows when to turn it on and when to turn it off," Staley said. "I think she made a conscious effort when A'ja went out to step up and know that we needed to not feel A'ja sitting on the bench."
Lewis had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats, but she was a virtual one-woman team. The rest of the Wildcats combined for only 26 points and no other player scored more than six points. Lewis denied that the lack of help hurt her in the second half, and credited her teammates for opening up the floor for her.
"My teammates were doing a great job of getting the ball to me," Lewis said. "I didn't let it affect me. I was going to produce regardless. I'm going to play my hardest."
Notes:
With her jumper at the start of the fourth quarter, Wilson reached 1,000 career points. She is only the second Gamecock to do it in her sophomore season. Wilson finished with a modest stat line of eight points, five rebounds, and three blocks, but she did her damage in only 15 minutes. ... With about seven minutes left in the game, Mitchell took a seat to a standing ovation. She was greeted on the bench with a bear hug from Wilson. In turn, each of the other seniors got the same treatment. "I wanted to cry, but I didn't," Sessions said. "Yeah, I'm just trying not to cry," Mitchell agreed, as her eyes began to water. ... Eli had a new t-shirt and even his own chair for the post-game press conference. When Mitchell left, she asked Staley if she would wanted Eli to stay. "Are you keeping Eli?" she asked. "He's your responsibility," Staley answered. ... Attendance was 10,048. ... South Carolina's next game will be against Syracuse on Friday night in Sioux Falls, S.D. South Carolina beat Syracuse twice last season, including a 97-68 rout in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
