COLUMBIA, S.C. — For the first time in more than a calendar year, the South Carolina women's basketball team has tasted defeat. The No. 1 Gamecocks fell, 54-46, to No. 8 N.C. State on Thursday at Colonial Life Arena, snapping the program's record 29-game winning streak.
No one would mistake the matchup for beautiful basketball: The top-10 showdown was an ugly, gritty affair with neither team shooting above 30% from the field and both consistently clashing in crowded lanes, with little outside shooting to speak of.
In the end, South Carolina couldn't overcome 4-of-11 free-throw shooting and 54 missed shots from the field. One of the team's leading scorers entering the game, junior point guard Destanni Henderson, scored just two points. Coach Dawn Staley's other star players, sophomore guard Zia Cooke and sophomore forward Aliyah Boston, combined for 20 points but needed 32 shots to get there.
From the get-go, both teams struggled to shoot, but South Carolina did get a boost late in the first quarter from sophomore forward Laeticia Amihere, who scored or assisted on every basket in a 6-0 run to put the Gamecocks up after 10 minutes.
And N.C. State gave Carolina the opportunity to pull away to start the second quarter, missing its first 10 shots of the period. But the Gamecocks failed to take advantage, missing every shot from outside and having no luck with drives into the paint that were met with two, three or sometimes even four defenders.
Eventually, the Wolfpack got going with a 6-0 run in the span of less than a minute, and South Carolina had its own stretch of 10 missed shots to fall behind.
That led to Staley calling timeout, and Cooke scored a quick four points to put the Gamecocks down one at halftime. Through the third quarter and into the fourth, neither team led by more than four points.
With less than a minute to play and N.C. State up four, Cooke did swipe a steal and coast for a layup to narrow the gap to 48-46. On the ensuing possession, though, N.C. State senior forward Kayla Jones drilled a 3-pointer, and South Carolina senior guard LeLe Grissett was called for a charge on the next possession, essentially sealing the outcome.
