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WBB: Gamecocks down Bulldogs for Tournament Championship

South Carolina won the SEC Tournament Championship Sunday with a 66-52 win over Mississippi State in Jacksonville, FL. Tiffany Mitchell score 19 points and was named the Tournament MVP.

With the win, South Carolina became just the third team to sweep the regular season and tournament championships in consecutive seasons. Along with becoming only the second team to go 16-0 in the regular season, South Carolina finished off one of the most successful seasons in SEC history. It also means it accomplished something it set out to do before the season started.

"It means a great deal," USC head coach Dawn Staley said. "It means that we put our names in the history book in this traditionally rich conference."

Mississippi State came out hot, but South Carolina's defense soon took over. South Carolina led 20-15 after the first quarter, having withstood Mississippi State's best shot early. It took control of the game in the second quarter, and then answered the call every time Mississippi State made a charge in the second half.

Morgan William hit a short jumper to pull the Bulldogs within a point at 22-21, but then the Gamecocks' defense clamped down. Over the final 5:38 of the second quarter, the Bulldogs missed their next six shots and turned the ball over three times. The Gamecocks did not exactly set the nets on fire with their shooting - they shot under 30 percent for the quarter, but they scored the final 11 points of the half.

Alaina Coates got the scoring started with a putback, and then Khadijah Sessions added a free throw after getting a steal and followed with a layup. A'ja Wilson got into the action, scoring off a missed layup by Mitchell and making a pair of free throws. Mitchell capped the run by grabbing a rebound and going coast-to-coast for a layup. The run gave the Gamecocks a 33-21 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs trimmed the lead to nine early in the third quarter and then down to 10 on two other occasions, but each time the Gamecocks answered by attacking the basket, drawing a foul, and sinking the free throws, all the little things that good teams do. First it was Mitchell making a pair of free throws to go back up double digits. Then Bianca Cuevas made a pair late in the third. And in the fourth, it was senior Asia Dozier who drew the foul and made both free throws.

Defensively, South Carolina harassed Mississippi State into 16 turnovers. Cuevas had three steals, and Sessions and Alaina Coates each had two. South Carolina also dominated the glass in the second half. At one point in the second quarter, Mississippi State had a 19-13 rebounding edge. South Carolina evened it at 21 by halftime, and then limited Mississippi State to seven rebounds in the second half en route to a 37-28 advantage.

Victoria Vivians who scored 30 of the Bulldogs' 58 points against Tennessee, once again provided half the scoring output with 26 points. She also grabbed eight rebounds, but had no assists, committed three turnovers, and disappeared for minutes at a time. Mitchell opened the game guarding Vivians and then Sessions took over in the fourth quarter. The philosophy was two-fold: make Vivians work for every shot, and then change up the look with a smaller player and fresher legs in the fourth quarter. It worked to perfection as Vivians went scoreless in the fourth quarter, and Sessions was so adept at denying her the ball that she only attempted one shot - a desperation three with 58 seconds left - in the entire quarter.

"What we want to do is make her work for everything," Staley said. "Sometimes she makes that look very easy, but what we wanted to do is over the course of 40 minutes continue to make her work, continue to have her running off screens, continue to have her playing on both sides of the ball."

Sessions was outstanding in the wins over Kentucky and Mississippi State. She scored in double figures in both games, but more importantly played lock-down defense.

"I just do what coach asks me to do," Sessions said. "My energy on both sides of the ball is very important. I have to lead this team."

Sessions was not named to the All-Tournament team, which Staley considered a mistake.

"A lot of times the things that Khadijah does for us are intangibles," Staley said. "She had some big, huge buckets for us, intangibles that couldn't pull out of the stat sheet."

For Mitchell, the championship brought closure to an up and down season. She struggled early in the year as she recovered from offseason ankle surgery. She rounded into form in time for the SEC season, but then missed most of the Kentucky game after falling hard on her lower back, an injury she admitted Sunday should have kept her out for at least another game. But she pressed on, finishing the season strong, only to see her two-year reign as the SEC Player of the Year ended by Wilson, costing her a chance to become the first ever three-time winner of the award.

Like Aleighsa Welch last year, Mitchell saved her best for her final SEC Tournament. She scored 20 points to lead the rout of Kentucky, and then had 19 and five assists in the championship, along with drawing Victoria Vivians as her defensive assignment.

"I don't feel like I had a great season, it's been kind of up and down," Mitchell said. "I've had games and spurts where it felt good, but this whole tournament felt good. Team-wise you could tell the energy was different and it rubbed off on me. It just felt good."

South Carolina will now get a few days off before returning to practice. Staley will have a few intrasquad scrimmages to help keep the team sharp. NCAA Tournament pairings will be announced on Monday, March 14, with the NCAA Tournament beginning that Friday.

Notes:

Tennessee (1999-2000 and 2010-11) and Georgia (1983-84) are the only other schools to win the regular season and tournament championships in back-to-back seasons. ... Vivians was the only Bulldog to score in double figures. ... Wilson scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Sessions added 11 points. Cuevas had seven off the bench, along with the three steals to cap a strong three days. ... With the win, South Carolina positioned itself to secure the number one seed in the Lexington Regional. That would be the closest regional destination available for fans to travel. "I hope to see you in Lexington, hint, hint," Staley said to the crowd after the game. ... Attendance for the game was 6,549. Total attendance for the tournament was 29,526.

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