Aliyah Boston posted her 23rd straight double with 15 points and 12 rebounds as top-ranked South Carolina beat Mississippi 61-51 in the semifinals of the Southeast Conference women's tournament on Saturday.
The Gamecocks (29–1) won their 17th straight in eight seasons to reach their seventh tournament championship game. 18 Tennessee or seventh-seeded Kentucky on Sunday, South Carolina's quest for a third straight and seventh title overall.
South Carolina improved 7-2 in the semi-finals, using its size and length to suppress Ole Miss for the third time this season in a performance between the SEC's top two scoring strongholds. The Gamecocks lead the SEC, allowing 51.2 points, and they held the Rebels through three quarters to 30 points.
Ole Miss (23–8) tried to rally, scoring 20 of the first 25 in the fourth to get within 58–50 with Shakira Austin's three-point game 1:40. That was the last bucket the Rebels made as South Carolina secured their latest berth in the title game.
Boston, a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, also had three blocks and three steals.
It was the first time in the semi-finals since 1993 for Ole Miss (23–8), who last played in the 1983 tournament championship.
Angel Baker led the reels with 20 points. Austin finished with 16.
It was a rematch of the regular season finale that South Carolina won at Oxford last weekend. The Rebels scored the first four points of the game, and Madison Scott blocked a shot by South Carolina guard Zea Cook for a strong start by Ole Miss.
Victoria Saxton made a steal and ended with a slow breakaway with a lap that tied it on 4. Boston scored the next four, and South Carolina led 14-8 after the first quarter. Baker scored 10 in the second to keep Ole Miss close, though Gamecock led 33–22 at halftime.
South Carolina steered the Rebels 20-8 to 53-30 in fourth place, where Ole Miss made it very interesting until the final 90 seconds.
Notable
- South Carolina's defense hasn't allowed it to reach 60 points in a game in a span of 14 games at LSU since January 6.
- The defense fueled the offense in the first half; Of the team's 33 points in the first 20 minutes, 17 came directly from Ole Miss's nine turnovers. Gamecock had six first-half steals for those rebellious turnovers, Victoria Saxton had three and Aaliyah Boston had two.
- Saxton finished the game with a career-high four steals and a block. That block took him to sixth place in the program's history for a career, now with 164 swats.
- The South Carolina quartet was dominant in the first half. Along with Saxton and Boston, Leticia Amihare and Kamila Cardoso all combined 7-10 shots from the ground and 7-of-8 hits from the free throw line.
- For the game, that quartet finished 14-for 21 with 39 points.
- Gamecock also used a tried-and-true method for offensive success - rebounding. The team used seven offensive rebounds in the first half to score a chance point of 13 seconds, while Ole Miss had zero.
- Saxton gave Gamecock a good start in a big third quarter, scoring the team's first six points and adding rebounds, blocks and steals in just the first four minutes. South Carolina ended the period with a 20-8 scoring advantage to break the game open.
- Between the second and third quarters, Gamecock made 57 percent (16–28) of his field goal attempts.
- South Carolina went into the fourth quarter without a field goal, but thanks to another solid free throw shooting performance to Ole Miss. Gamecocks took 12 out of eight attempts in fourth place, with four different players hitting their shots. For the game, South Carolina made 22 out of 17, making it the second consecutive game with a percentage of 75 or better with 15 or more.
- In addition to leading the team in scoring and rebounding in the first two games of the tournament, Boston has eight steals and five blocks in the same period.
Next
Gamecock will face the winner of Kentucky and Tennessee in the championship game on Sunday afternoon. Tip time is set for 2 PM. ET and the game will air on ESPN.