They barely touched the ball in the first half. Then these Gamecocks took over vs. LSU
As the South Carolina women’s basketball team scuffled early Thursday night, letting LSU’s zone defense create havoc and turnovers aplenty, a couple key Gamecocks were missing in action.
Yes, the post duo of senior Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and freshman Aliyah Boston were on the floor, but Carolina’s top two scorers were quiet. Boston tallied four points in the first few minutes, then didn’t score again the rest of the first half, while Herbert Harrigan had one basket in 17 minutes of play. Neither attempted a shot in the second quarter, as the Tigers outscored the Gamecocks 14-9 and surged back into the game.
It wasn’t entirely their fault. LSU’s defense had thrown South Carolina’s guards off-kilter, and they weren’t feeding the bigs down low as often as they have throughout the season.
“(Herbert Harrigan) played 17 minutes in the first half, got two touches,” coach Dawn Staley said. “Aliyah played 12 minutes, and I think she got two touches. I think if we totaled our post play touches, they were 4-for-7. That’s a pretty good percentage.”
That lack of touches changed, both dramatically and quickly, in the third quarter. Less than four minutes after halftime, both Boston and Herbert Harrigan had scored, and they would account for 15 of USC’s 20 points in the quarter as the Gamecocks seized control and nabbed their 20th consecutive win.
Together, the two accounted for 45% of South Carolina’s field goals on the night. After putting up an average of 20 3-pointers per game for the last three weeks, the Gamecocks shot just 11 from beyond the arc against the Tigers, instead attacking the heart of their zone and asserting their will in the paint. Boston led the team with 13 points, while Herbert Harrigan was close behind with 12.
“Our focus at halftime was to move the ball more, get wide open shots and not force anything, take care of the ball and play how we usually play,” Herbert Harrigan said.
But Boston and Herbert Harrigan didn’t just carry the Gamecocks by scoring. After combining for one block and no steals in the first half, they tallied seven swats and two steals in the second. LSU had 14 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes but just six the rest of the way, and the Tigers’ shooting percentage on 2-point attempts plummeted nearly 25 points as players were either flat-out rejected or shied away from the lane entirely.
“Their interior defense is one of the best that we played,” LSU coach Nikki Fargas said. “You got players that know how to alter shots and obviously block shots. And to me, one of the strengths of ours has been the dribble drive and getting to the paint. But what we talked about with our group was, what’s the extra pass? And I didn’t think we did a great job of making the extra pass.”
According to Her Hoop Stats, South Carolina ranks second nationally in block rate as a team, with Boston and Herbert Harrigan ranking in the top six percent of all players in that category individually.
And facing one of their biggest tests in SEC play to date, the Gamecocks went back to their bigs to power them to a crucial win.
WHEN DO THE GAMECOCKS PLAY NEXT?
Who: No. 1 South Carolina (26-1, 13-0 SEC) at No. 14 Kentucky (20-5, 9-4 SEC)
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky
Watch: ESPN2
Listen: 98.5 FM in Columbia area
South Carolina LSU box score
LSU (18-7)—Trasi 4-11 0-0 8, Aifuwa 4-12 4-6 12, Cherry 6-11 0-0 13, Pointer 3-12 0-0 7, Richard-Harris 2-4 0-0 4, Brooks 0-3 1-2 1, Spencer 1-2 0-0 3, Young 0-1 0-0 0, Team 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 20-56 5-8 48
SOUTH CAROLINA (26-1)—Boston 6-10 1-2 13, Herbert Harrigan 4-6 4-4 12, Beal 2-4 0-0 4, Cooke 2-7 7-9 11, Harris 4-5 1-2 10, Amihere 0-2 0-0 0, Saxton 1-1 0-0 2, Grissett 1-2 2-2 4, Henderson 2-8 2-4 7, Team 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 22-45 17-23 63
Halftime South Carolina 32-26. 3-Point Goals—LSU 3-7 (Trasi 0-2, Cherry 1-1, Pointer 1-2, Richard-Harris 0-1, Spencer 1-1), South Carolina 2-11 (Boston 0-1, Herbert Harrigan 0-1, Cooke 0-3, Harris 1-2, Henderson 1-4). Assists—LSU 11 (Pointer 5), South Carolina 14 (Harris 6). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—LSU 26 ( 3-4), South Carolina 34 (Boston 3-9). Total Fouls—LSU 18, South Carolina 15. Technical Fouls—None.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 10:14 AM with the headline "They barely touched the ball in the first half. Then these Gamecocks took over vs. LSU."
