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Tag: south carolina women’s basketball

  • No. 2 South Carolina WBB gets big win over Duke in Las Vegas

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    LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 26: Joyce Edwards #8 of the South Carolina Gamecocks high fives a teammate after a turnover by the Duke Blue Devilsduring the second quarter of a Players Era Championship basketball tournament game at Michelob ULTRA Arena on November 26, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)

    LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 26: Joyce Edwards #8 of the South Carolina Gamecocks high fives a teammate after a turnover by the Duke Blue Devilsduring the second quarter of a Players Era Championship basketball tournament game at Michelob ULTRA Arena on November 26, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)


    Ian Maule

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    No. 2 South Carolina women’s basketball won the first of its two-game slate in the Player Era Championship.

    Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks beat a tough Duke team 83-66 in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

    With the win, South Carolina is now 7-0 on the year while Duke falls to 3-4 with the loss. Both teams will play their final game of the Players Era Championship on Thursday.

    Madina Okot led the way for South Carolina with 23 points while two other Gamecocks finished with more than 10 points. Toby Fournier led Duke with 16 points and three other Blue Devils finished with double-digit points.

    Duke controls things to start

    Duke controlled things early in the game and for a second it looked like it was going to give the No. 2 team in the country a run for its money.

    The Blue Devils got off to a hot start after scoring the first bucket of the game. Duke led by as many as eight as the first quarter was winding down. But a run by South Carolina cut Duke’s lead to 15-14 at the end of the period. Taina Mair led Duke with five points and four rebounds in the first quarter.

    Duke outshot South Carolina 46.7% to 37.5% in the first quarter. Duke was able to lead for the entirety of the first quarter.

    Second quarter makes the difference for Gamecocks

    It took South Carolina until the 6:20 mark in the second quarter to earn its first lead of the game. But once the Gamecocks finally grabbed the lead, they never let it go.

    South Carolina outscored Duke 26-12 in the second quarter and finished the period on a 13-2 run. USC improved its shooting percentage to 42.3% in the period and limited Duke to 35.7%. The Gamecock defense forced six turnovers in the second quarter Okot was crucial to the momentum change for South Carolina. She recorded nine points and four rebounds in the second quarter.

    South Carolina ended up leading by as many 19 points in the game (that came at a point early in the third quarter) but Duke made a run in the third quarter. Duke out-scored South Carolina 24-21 in the third, but the lead the Gamecocks built up in the second quarter helped USC maintain a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

    Duke was never able to cut the lead to less than eight despite a few strong pushes in the second half.

    Post play leads to the win for South Carolina

    The play of Okot and Edwards on the glass (and in general, for that matter) made a big difference in the game.

    Okot finished with yet another double-double after tallying 23 points and 13 rebounds. Okot has now recorded three-straight double-doubles and five total this season.

    Edwards scored 22 points in the game and also tallied six rebounds and assists. That marks the third-straight game she’s scored at least 20 points this season. She’s hit that mark four times this season.

    As a team, South Carolina scored 58 points in the paint compared to Duke’s 28. The Gamecocks’ offensive production was almost exclusively from inside the arc, as USC made just one of their 10 attempts from 3-point range.

    South Carolina out-rebounded Duke 43 to 35.

    Thanksgiving basketball on deck

    Both South Carolina and Duke will play their next games Thursday night to wrap up the Players Era Championship.

    USC will play No. 4 Texas in the championship game of the event at 8 p.m. Duke will play No. 3 UCLA in the third place game at 10:30 p.m.

    Both games will be televised on truTV.

    Texas advanced to the championship game by beating UCLA 76-65 on Wednesday afternoon.

    South Carolina WBB’s next four games

    • Thursday, Nov. 27: vs Texas or UCLA in Players Era Championship in Las Vegas, 8 or 10:30 p.m. (truTV)
    • Thursday, Dec. 4: at Louisville, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
    • Sunday, Dec. 7: vs NC Central, 12 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
    • Sunday, Dec. 14: vs Penn State, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)

    Michael Sauls is The State’s South Carolina women’s basketball reporter. He previously worked at The Virginian-Pilot covering Norfolk State and Hampton University sports. A Columbia native, he is an alum of the University of South Carolina.

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  • South Carolina vs UNC women’s basketball game score, recap

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    Atlanta

    South Carolina women’s basketball wrapped up its preseason Thursday with another exhibition win.

    Dawn Staley and the No. 2 Gamecocks got a strong 91-82 win over No. 11 North Carolina in State Farm Arena. South Carolina controlled the scoreboard for all but three minutes in the game, and a late push from North Carolina tightened up the final margin.

    The Gamecocks finish their preseason exhibition slate with a perfect 2-0 record and now turn their attention to Monday’s regular season opener against Grand Canyon.

    A good night on offense

    South Carolina’s offense looked good in an exhibition against Anderson last week and continued to perform well against increased competition on Thursday.

    Ta’Niya Latson and Tessa Johnson both found a groove on offense and finished tied for a team-high 19 points.

    “I felt really comfortable,” Latson said. “I played against UNC before, so I just knew I had to bring my practice habits to the game and just be myself.”

    Every Gamecock who saw the floor against North Carolina played, and five players finished with more than 10 points. Joyce Edwards tallied 12 points and Maryam Dauda gave the Gamecocks 10 points off the bench. Madina Okot finished with 11 points.

    South Carolina shot 50% as a team.

    Good work on defense

    The Gamecocks were able to keep pressure on North Carolina’s offense all game.

    USC forced North Carolina to turn the ball over 15 times. The Gamecocks recorded nine steals as a team, led by Raven Johnson.

    Almost every Gamecock recorded a block in the game. South Carolina had six blocks as a team.

    Some rotation adversity

    Let’s face it, South Carolina wasn’t exactly put through any major challenges when it beat D-II Anderson 112-32 in its first exhibition last week.

    The Gamecocks did run into some slight adversity against the Tar Heels on Thursday, though that should be expected against a Top 25 team.

    Okot and Tessa Johnson both found themselves in some foul trouble in the game. Both finished with four fouls.

    When that happened, Staley leaned on Joyce Edwards in the post, though Dauda and Adhel Tac provided serviceable minutes, and Maddy McDaniel and Agot Makeer in the back court.

    Quick note on Raven Johnson and Ayla McDowell

    All but one of South Carolina’s 10 available players on the roster made an appearance in the game. The lone player to not log any minutes was freshman wing Ayla McDowell.

    Staley said McDowell, who scored six points in 14 minutes against Anderson, didn’t play due to an illness.

    “She’s been sick for the last probably couple days,” Staley said. “She probably could have played, but she didn’t really feel that well during shoot-around. … She’s braving through it. But I decided just to allow her to get better so she could be ready for when the regular season rolls around.”

    Johnson went to the locker room after a hard fall late in the second quarter. It took her a minute to get off the floor and when she did, she was holding her lower back.

    Johnson returned to the game and started the second half. She finished with five points, five assists and three steals.

    Staley confirmed Johnson was fine after the game.

    “We’ll see what she feels like tomorrow,” Staley said. “She’s probably going to hurt a little bit, probably going to be a bit sore tomorrow. But Raven is tough.”

    South Carolina WBB schedule: Next four games

    • Monday: vs Grand Canyon, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
    • Nov. 7: vs Bowling Green, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
    • Nov. 11: vs Clemson, 6 p.m. (ESPN2)
    • Nov. 15: vs Southern Cal in The Real SC in Los Angeles 9 p.m. (Fox)

    This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 7:52 PM.

    Michael Sauls is The State’s South Carolina women’s basketball reporter. He previously worked at The Virginian-Pilot covering Norfolk State and Hampton University sports. A Columbia native, he is an alum of the University of South Carolina.

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