COLUMBIA — Coach Dawn Staley has continuously been looking to improve how productive third-ranked South Carolina women’s basketball is inside the paint.
Without former center Kamilla Cardoso, a 6-foot-7 presence who averaged 60% shooting inside last season, there’s been a large dependence on South Carolina’s guards to score, especially in terms of shot selection and play design.
In Sunday’s 78-62 win over South Florida (5-6), the Gamecocks (10-1) found rhythm in the paint with quality ball movement. That came after three guards combined for 42 points whereas four post players tallied just 20 combined points against TCU on Dec. 8.
Staley said that has been a concerted effort to utilize its post players more, widening the opportunities for scoring and increasing the amount of shots inside.
“We weren’t giving them as many looks as we needed to give them, so we’ve been working on being intentional about getting them the ball and they’ve done a great job,” Staley said. “Their production, from a rebounding standpoint and now offensively, it’s starting to click for some of them.”
With an undersized team like USF, they were able to implement the strategic changes on offense, and their post players benefitted greatly.
South Carolina had 46 points in the paint, led by freshman Joyce Edwards and senior Sania Feagin. Feagin, who replaced Cardoso in the lineup had a season-high 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Edwards had 15 off the bench, a career high for her.
“We all understand we can bring our own value to the table and today we just did us,” Edwards said.
With 6:07 in the second quarter, freshman Maddy McDaniel drove hard to the left low block, forcing two defenders to swarm her then made a simple drop pass to Feagin for the easy score. Textbook offense that wasn’t difficult in design, but had been lacking at times this season, as South Carolina is working to discover its identity.
The Gamecocks finished a season-high 69.2% on their layups on Sunday. Even though the plan was catered to work the ball inside, they got open looks beyond the arc, but shot only 31.3%, making 5-of-16 3-point attempts.
“It makes life easier,” Staley said. “If we didn’t make as many layups as we did today at a pretty efficient clip, (the Bulls) could have made it interesting.”
Starting forward Chloe Kitts scored 52 points in her first three games this season but since, the scoring has been more balanced across all of the posts.
Now, Feagin is averaging 6.4 points per game, Edwards is averaging 9.4 and Ashlyn Watkins is beginning to find her groove, averaging 7.3.
The increased looks for the forwards hasn’t hindered the guards, Te-Hina Paopao still finished with 10 and Bree Hall added nine on Sunday. The well-balanced scoring attack is particular helpful ahead of conference play in January.
“There were times where we really played connected basketball, we really found the best shot on the floor and we need to continue to do that in longer stretches,” Staley said. “If we can steal some moments like that throughout the game, it just helps decrease the amount of pressure that our offense has to perform at a high clip.”
MORE: South Carolina women’s basketball, Dawn Staley secure win No. 10 with victory over USF
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: Dawn Staley wanted increased post presence. South Carolina delivered.
