South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley knew MiLaysia Fulwiley was going to have a good game in the SEC Tournament semifinal on March 7.
The LSU junior guard only scored six points on 1-for-8 shooting in the 79-72 loss to South Carolina on Feb. 14, and Staley didn’t expect that to happen again.
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Facing her former team for a second time, Fulwiley led the Tigers to a four-point lead at halftime with 11 points in the second quarter at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The Columbia native finished with a game-high 24 points on 10-for-21 shooting with four assists, one rebound, one steal and one block in the 83-77 loss to the No. 1 seed Gamecocks (31-2).
“I mean, I still think MiLaysia is a generational talent,” Staley said. “She does things out there on the floor that I haven’t seen a whole lot of female basketball players do. I’m generally happy for her. Like, I’m super happy. She’s actually doing some of the things that we talked about her doing. Just direct line drives and making plays. We all know she can play. We all know that she undoubtedly is a tremendous player.”
South Carolina won its 19th straight game over LSU to advance to the SEC Tournament final, where it will face No. 3 seed Texas (30-3) on March 8 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Fulwiley has also always performed well at the SEC Tournament – over the last three years, she has averaged 16 points on 43.3% shooting in eight games. She was named SEC Tournament MVP as a freshman when she scored 24 points against LSU in the final.
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“I’m happy for her. Like, I’m really happy for her,” Staley said. “She played two years for us, and we’re always going to be happy. We always consider her a Gamecock, no matter what uniform she puts on.”
Fulwiley said playing in front of her family always gives her extra motivation.
“I feel like I just want to win. I just got the mindset of going out there and helping my team win … I actually didn’t see anything but the goal,” Fulwiley said of her 11 second-quarter points. “I was just staying confident, just believing in myself, believing in all the work I put in. My teammates did a great job finding me, and I just made sure I made the baskets.”
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina’s Dawn Staley happy for former player MiLaysia Fulwiley
