Written by Adrian Beecher
Dallas, TX - A’Ja Wilson’s double-double on 13 points and 19 rebounds helped lead the South Carolina Gamecocks to a 62-53 win over Stanford in game one of the 2017 Women’s Final Four. South Carolina started out with an early lead before falling behind by 10 point’s, forcing them to make a comeback. Here’s how it all went down.
South Carolina won the tipoff, but it was The Cardinal getting the first basket of the game coming from Forward Erica McCall. Then answering at the other end of the floor for the Gamecocks was Tyasha Harris with a triple. This was the start of a 7-0 run by South Carolina to make it 7-2 with 7:42 left in the first quarter.
Then it was McCall again for Stanford putting in a basket to end the South Carolina run. This marked the start of an 8-2 run for The Cardinal as they regained the lead at 10-9 with 2:53 left in the quarter. A triple from Allisha Gray gave the lead back to the Gamecocks, one in which they would maintain through the end of the 1st quarter. At the end of the quarter, Gamecocks were on top 14-12.
In the 2nd quarter, the Cardinal started to heat up as McCall got them going with a jumper to start a 7-0 run that put them up 21-14 with 6:22 left in the half. The Gamecocks did not get their first basket of the 2nd quarter until there was just 4:07 left on the clock as A’Ja Wilson put in a layup to cut the deficit to just 6.
After some exchanges of baskets, Stanford took their largest lead of the game at 10 points on a layup from Brittany Mcphee with 1:34 left in the half. South Carolina’s Doniyah Cliney hit a free throw before the half to make it a 9-point deficit. At the half Stanford led 29-20 with Erica McCall (10) and Marta Sniezek (8) leading the charge for The Cardinal with a combined 18 points.
As the 2nd half got under way, it would be South Carolina getting the first basket of the half on a jumper from Allisha Gray, cutting their deficit to 7. Then it was Wilson adding a jumper to cut it to just a 5 point game. As the stakes got higher between the two title contenders, slowly and surely the Gamecocks clawed their way back into this one. In fact with 3:31 left on the clock, Bianca Cuevas-Moore hit a triple to give the Gamecocks a 35-33 lead. Shortly after Cliney put in a layup with 2:43 left to play in the 3rd quarter, capping off a 17-4 run to open the second half.
After a timeout by The Cardinal to slow things down a bit, the Gamecocks kept the pedal to the metal as the defense came up with another stop and Cuevas-Moore put in a layup to make it 39-33 with South Carolina on top and just 1:44 left in the 3rd. The Cardinal was able to cut their deficit to just 2 points before Mikiah Herbert Harrigan put in a basket just before the buzzer to make it a four-point lead for the Gamecocks at the end of 3.
The Gamecocks got the first basket of the 4th quarter to push their lead back to 6 on a jumper from Gray. Refusing to let up, The Cardinal quickly cut it to a point game with 6:49 left to play. Then South Carolina once again started to slowly pull away from The Cardinal with 2 back to back buckets to get their lead up to 7. After trading buckets over the next two minutes, South Carolina had taken an 8 point lead with just 4:13 left to play.
Alanna Smith then hit a jumper and a triple to cut the Gamecocks lead to just 3 points with 2:08 left to play. However, after that, The Cardinal struggled to get the ball in the basket and with just 56 seconds left the Gamecocks lead had increased to 8 points once again. Another triple from Smith cut it down to a 5-point deficit with 29 seconds on the clock. However, that would be the final time Stanford would score as the Gamecocks sealed the deal shooting 4 of 6 from the free throw line in final seconds.
With the win, the Gamecocks clinched a berth in the 2017 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game to be played on April 2nd against the winner of UConn and Mississippi State.
South Carolina won the tipoff, but it was The Cardinal getting the first basket of the game coming from Forward Erica McCall. Then answering at the other end of the floor for the Gamecocks was Tyasha Harris with a triple. This was the start of a 7-0 run by South Carolina to make it 7-2 with 7:42 left in the first quarter.
Then it was McCall again for Stanford putting in a basket to end the South Carolina run. This marked the start of an 8-2 run for The Cardinal as they regained the lead at 10-9 with 2:53 left in the quarter. A triple from Allisha Gray gave the lead back to the Gamecocks, one in which they would maintain through the end of the 1st quarter. At the end of the quarter, Gamecocks were on top 14-12.
In the 2nd quarter, the Cardinal started to heat up as McCall got them going with a jumper to start a 7-0 run that put them up 21-14 with 6:22 left in the half. The Gamecocks did not get their first basket of the 2nd quarter until there was just 4:07 left on the clock as A’Ja Wilson put in a layup to cut the deficit to just 6.
After some exchanges of baskets, Stanford took their largest lead of the game at 10 points on a layup from Brittany Mcphee with 1:34 left in the half. South Carolina’s Doniyah Cliney hit a free throw before the half to make it a 9-point deficit. At the half Stanford led 29-20 with Erica McCall (10) and Marta Sniezek (8) leading the charge for The Cardinal with a combined 18 points.
As the 2nd half got under way, it would be South Carolina getting the first basket of the half on a jumper from Allisha Gray, cutting their deficit to 7. Then it was Wilson adding a jumper to cut it to just a 5 point game. As the stakes got higher between the two title contenders, slowly and surely the Gamecocks clawed their way back into this one. In fact with 3:31 left on the clock, Bianca Cuevas-Moore hit a triple to give the Gamecocks a 35-33 lead. Shortly after Cliney put in a layup with 2:43 left to play in the 3rd quarter, capping off a 17-4 run to open the second half.
After a timeout by The Cardinal to slow things down a bit, the Gamecocks kept the pedal to the metal as the defense came up with another stop and Cuevas-Moore put in a layup to make it 39-33 with South Carolina on top and just 1:44 left in the 3rd. The Cardinal was able to cut their deficit to just 2 points before Mikiah Herbert Harrigan put in a basket just before the buzzer to make it a four-point lead for the Gamecocks at the end of 3.
The Gamecocks got the first basket of the 4th quarter to push their lead back to 6 on a jumper from Gray. Refusing to let up, The Cardinal quickly cut it to a point game with 6:49 left to play. Then South Carolina once again started to slowly pull away from The Cardinal with 2 back to back buckets to get their lead up to 7. After trading buckets over the next two minutes, South Carolina had taken an 8 point lead with just 4:13 left to play.
Alanna Smith then hit a jumper and a triple to cut the Gamecocks lead to just 3 points with 2:08 left to play. However, after that, The Cardinal struggled to get the ball in the basket and with just 56 seconds left the Gamecocks lead had increased to 8 points once again. Another triple from Smith cut it down to a 5-point deficit with 29 seconds on the clock. However, that would be the final time Stanford would score as the Gamecocks sealed the deal shooting 4 of 6 from the free throw line in final seconds.
With the win, the Gamecocks clinched a berth in the 2017 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game to be played on April 2nd against the winner of UConn and Mississippi State.