COLONIAL LIFE ARENA: The top-ranked Gamecocks made it clear from the opening tip that Charleston Southern was in for a long afternoon. USC rattled off 11 straight points before the Buccaneers got on the board and never looked back in an 87-23 victory, Sunday.
Aliyah Boston (10 points, 13 rebounds) made it clear right away that she couldn’t be handled, grabbing eight rebounds and scoring eight points in the opening quarter as South Carolina raced out to a 20-3 lead. Dawn Staley was able to play Boston sparingly in the second half as USC nursed its lead. Zia Cooke took charge in the third quarter, scoring 11 of her 16 points in the period. Talaysi Cooper came off the bench to score 14 points in 18 minutes.
Shaking off its worst offensive performance of the season (34% shooting vs. South Dakota State), the Gamecocks fired long-distance shots with confidence, knocking down 10 of 22 from behind the arc. Charleston Southern could not find room to operate its offense, hitting just 16% of its shots from the field while turning it over 15 times.
South Carolina (11-0) is back in action, Wednesday, playing host to Coastal Carolina at noon.
