No. 5 Gamecocks Top No. 1 Texas for the 9th SEC tournament Title – University of South Carolina Athletics

Greenville, SC (AP) – The coach of South Carolina, Dawn Staley, believed to win this year’s SEC championship this year would be much more difficult than any of the earlier titles of the school after adding the Texas and Oklahoma league to the mix.

But it didn’t look that difficult for the five -desk Gamecocks.

The tournament MVP Chloe Kitts ended with 15 points and nine rebounds, Tessa Johnson added 14 points and South Carolina ended a dominant three-day run in Greenville by winning 64: 45 of No. 1 and the second seed with 64:45 on Sunday, for his third championship of the Southeasters Conference Turnier Championship and to win the Ninth title.

“They are young people who come down here and every time they step on the ground, they appear on a high standard, and I am very proud of them,” said stale.

Sania Feagin and Joyce Edwards each had 11 points for the Gamecocks, who bravely put their right to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Gamecocks won their three tournament games with 21, 18 and 19 points, with the last two against newcomers No. 10 Oklahoma and Texas.

None of them looked ready to cope with the intensity of South Carolina.

South Carolina (30-3) never stayed behind and opened the game with a 19: 2 run to start the second quarter to set up a lead of 33: 16 during the break behind a choking defense. The lead rose to 21 at the beginning of the fourth quarter and the Gamecocks were never threatened again.

“I took two timeouts in the second quarter and we just couldn’t stop (their dynamics),” said Texas coach Vic Schaefer.

Staley improved 5-0 against Schaefer in the SEC title games, although the previous four came when he trained in the state of Mississippi.

Kitts an average of 16.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game during the tournament and shot 74% off the field, but the Gamecocks received contributions from several players than StaLey rolled after the other.

But team defense was the key.

In the 4-of-13 shooting All-American Madison Booker, the Gamecocks held 10 points to achieve the 15-game winning streak from Texas and to force 18 sales. Taylor Jones and Rori Harmon led Longhorns (31-3) with 14 points each.

Harmon said: “We have another big tournament in front of us and have to learn from our mistakes. … but this game will follow us as a team. “

Schaefer said he is still expecting his team to be a seed number 1 in the NCAA tournament.

“A quarter, one game certainly doesn’t define our season,” said Schaefer.

Key

South Carolina enforced his three SEC tournament opponents 67: 27 in the second quarter.

Gamecock statements

• With the 64-45 victory against Texas, South Carolina achieved the third SEC tournament title in a row and his ninth overall.
• The victory against the Longhorns marked the first win against a No. 1 team in the program history.
• Three Gamecocks were appointed to the all-tournament team.
• Chloe Kitts was appointed MVP of the tournament and achieved an almost double double with 15 points and nine boards, with six of their points in the last quarter to bring the Gamecocks to the top for 20 points. She ended the tournament with a team high of 16.7 ppg and an average of 7.7 boards.
• Tessa tournament appeared when Tessa Johnson ended with 14 points after shot 5: 7 from the ground and hit two 3s in the second half, which brought South Carolina the biggest lead in the game at that time (45-25).
• Sania Feagin had a strong third quarter and knocked seven of her 11 points in so many minutes on perfect 3-against-3 shooting from the field, including a Summers, which ends 3 at the end of the quarter.
• Joyce Edwards ended double -digit figures for the third time and made the brand in every round of the tournament to end with a second best team of 14.7 points per game.
• Milaysia Fulwiley has earned her place in the all tournament team behind 13.0 points, 3.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game for the event