Aliyah Boston notched her 22nd consecutive double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds as top-ranked South Carolina beat Arkansas 76-54 in the Southeastern Conference women’s tournament quarterfinals
Aaliyah Boston is doing her best to set the tone for top-ranked South Carolina now that the post season has arrived.
Boston scored its 22nd consecutive double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds as Gamecock beat Arkansas 76-54 in the Southeastern Conference Women's Tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
"I'm just trying to be dominant," Boston said. "And he's doing baskets and rebounding, so I'm just trying to make sure I do that.
The Gamecocks (28–1) obtained their SEC regular season championship before tipoff, then took their first steps toward their seventh tournament title in eight years against the last team to defeat them in the event. Arkansas topped South Carolina in 2019 and has since won the 2020 and 2021 tournaments, along with an undefeated Gamecock.
South Carolina will play fourth-seeded Mississippi in Saturday's semifinals, Gamecock's ninth in the past 10 seasons. Mississippi beat No. 23 Florida 70-60.
The Gamecocks have now won 16 straight.
Boston, SEC Player of the Year and three-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, did everything as usual. He had five assistants, five burglaries and two blocks. Leticia Amihere added 16 points, and Victoria Saxton had 11 rebounds. Ten gamecocks scored at least three points.
Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said South Carolina is great to represent and dominate the SEC. Friday was one of the times that Gamecock is bad in this league.
"It's really tough when you have to play these guys twice a year because they're very physical, they're talented, they're well trained," the neighbors said. "They have everything that makes the No. 1 team in America who they are."
Arkansas (18-13) broke a two-game winning streak, which Neighbors called a good gauge for their razorbacks.
Samara Spencer led the Razorbacks with 10 points.
Gamecock lost his first six shots before going to Boston, and he scored five points and five rebounds as South Carolina led 24-12 at the end of the first quarter. Arkansas beat South Carolina 17–16 in the second, twice pulling within nine before Gamecock took a 40–29 lead at halftime.
Arkansas pulled within 44-37 on a 3-pointer by Sasha Goforth and left 6:49 in the third. Gamecocks made only three shots during the quarter, but they finished third on 12-4 for a 56-41 lead going into fourth, scoring 10 of 12 at the free throw line.
Gamecock extended the lead to 23 in the last two minutes. They finished with a bigger lead at the free throw line (23 of 28) than Arkansas (9 of 15) as three Razorbacks finished with four fouls.
South Carolina coach Don Staley said assistant Lisa Boyer told him Gamecock was shooting 18% in the third quarter.
Staley said, "You can't have a lot of free assets when you're playing teams in our league, so I thought we did a great job getting our missed shots over the free throw line." "
Cold start
Maybe it was an early start, but both the teams got off to a very slow start. Gamecock lost nine of his first 11 shots and didn't make the basket until Boston scored on the putback with 7:56 in the first quarter. The Razorback started 1 in 10 and missed his first seven 3-pointers.
The worst possible game was when Saxton tried to pass the ball over the court after a defensive rebound with Bray Beale missing. The ball went outside the boundary.
Wrapped and playing
South Carolina center Camilla Cardoso missed the final game of the regular season's Gamecock with what was described as an "upper body" injury that limited her to six minutes into her February 24 win over Texas A&M . Cardoso comes off the bench with a black brace wrapped around his left shoulder.
Cardoso finished with five points and seven rebounds.
Next
Arkansas begins preparations for the NCAA Tournament bracket announcement.
Saturday's semifinal for the Gamecocks.