KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Basketball is a two-way street.
Offense comes from defense, and good defense can only win games by also scoring on the other end.
No. 2 South Carolina women’s basketball‘s 70-63 win over Tennessee on Monday night showed just how strong its defense can be, even after five consecutive games against top 25 opponents. The No. 17 Lady Vols (15-5, 3-5 SEC) were the final leg of the grueling stretch, and in true South Carolina fashion, it got it done.
“We know defense is the one thing we can control,” freshman Joyce Edwards said. “We knew that these games were going to be tough, we knew that fatigue was going to set in but we just had to be mentally strong and push through.”
Going into Monday, the Lady Vols were averaging the most points in the nation at 93.4 per game. The only way South Carolina (20-1, 8-0) could quell that success was to lock in defensively. And the defense had to flow through the offense, which is why in the second quarter, South Carolina outscored Tennessee 22-12.
Then the Gamecocks let a 22-point lead in the third quarter slip away, and they led by just six with 14 seconds to go.
“I thought just halfway through the second quarter we found some easy ways to score once we beat their press,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “It was just a buildup, and that buildup was torn down in the fourth quarter by ill-advised shots, just bad shots, bad shot selection. Bad, bad, bad. Fortunately for us, we build enough of a lead where we were able to sustain their comeback.”
Despite the sloppy final minutes, Tennessee finished with a season-low in points.
The five ranked teams in the recent stretch posed different challenges. Tennessee subbed quickly and pressed most of the game, which tired out an already lethargic group. LSU attacked the glass, which put an emphasis on rebounding and eliminating second-chance opportunities. In a similar fashion to Monday, South Carolina had to deal with Alabama’s late-game push, which challenged the Gamecocks’ poise in high-pressure situations. Texas and Oklahoma each had a star — Madison Booker and Raegan Beers, respectively — who could take over the game.
Within each game, it wasn’t that every single area was dominated by the Gamecocks, but there was a consistent theme of resiliency and a defensive effort like no other.
“Our staple is defense,” Staley said. “We don’t know whether or not we’re going to be able to score a lot of points in this league. I mean, this league is based off defense. If you’re able to defend, it gives you an opportunity to defend every single time. When we play the right way with how we play defense and we play the right way offensively and our type of defense, we give ourselves a really good chance of winning. When we don’t . . . we could lose to anyone.”
Halfway through SEC play, South Carolina is the only team that hasn’t lost a conference game, and in 10 games against ranked opponents, has won nine of them.
“It is not for the faint of the heart to be in this league and to be undefeated,” Staley said.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: How defense carried South Carolina, Dawn Staley to 8-0 in SEC play
