Auburn was no match for college basketball’s top-ranked women’s basketball team, as South Carolina took control early on its home court en route to a 96-42 victory over the Tigers on Thursday night. The season’s national champions, the Gamecocks, improved to 15-0 overall and 3-0 in the SEC. Auburn fell 10-5 and 0-3 in the SEC.
In a game where only four Tigers scored, the Gamecocks had four players in double digits and eight others scoring points. Senior forward Aaliyah Boston, National Player of the Year last season, said to Colonial Life in his arena that he missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
Aisha Koulibaly scored 16 points and scored a 7-21 field goal for the Tigers while Sania Wells came off the bench for a 6-8 field goal and scored 13 points. Sydney Shaw added his 11 points to the Tigers, with the visitors’ only other points being Romy Levy’s two.
The Tigers shot 18 of 63 field goal tries for a 28.6% success rate. The Gamecocks finished with his margin of plus 20 rebounds, achieving his 36/57 of 64.2%.
“I missed a wide-open shot,” Auburn coach Johnny Harris said. His team was 2/8 on 3-pointers and 12/4 on the foul line. “I thought their size really scared us,” said the coach.
The Gamecocks edged the Tigers 50-22 in paints and 21-4 in fastbreak points.
“We were small and we were winning in the paint,” Harris said. Harris’ team has turned the ball more than 12 times, two less than South Carolina, where he made his 3-pointers 7-of-16.
Harris said the Tigers wanted to play at a more uptempo pace, but the Gamecocks dominated the action.
“Hopefully our kids will learn from it,” said Harris. Senior guard Honesty Scott Grayson has missed the last three games due to injury.
The Tigers will return to court for Sunday’s game against Alabama at 4 p.m. CST at Neville Arena.
