South Carolina women wallop Savannah State in NCAA first round

South Carolina’s Aleighsa Welch didn’t like Savannah State hanging around the NCAA tournament opener and urged her teammates to do something about it.

The top-seeded Gamecocks (31-2) used a 21-1 run early in the second half to break away from the Tigers for an 81-48 victory Friday night.

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions had lost by 62 points the last time they played at Colonial Life Arena, yet were down 49-39 with 15 minutes left in the game.

“It was a little too close for comfort,” Welch said. “We knew we had a run in us and it had to start on the defensive end.”

That’s when Welch’s basket got the run going. Point guard Kadijah Sessions followed with two quick steals and five points as the Gamecocks cruised to their sixth straight NCAA tournament opening game win.

It was South Carolina’s first time hosting an NCAA game at home in 13 years.

“Overall, I was happy with the atmosphere and really happy with the outcome,” Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said.

A’ja Wilson scored 15 points and Alaina Coates and Welch had 12 points each.

The Gamecocks, who set a program record with their 31st win, shot 64 percent in putting away the Tigers (21-11) for a second time this season. South Carolina won its 33rd straight at home. It will have one more at Colonial Life Arena Sunday when it faces Syracuse or Nebraska on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16.

The Gamecocks last played an NCAA game on campus in 2002. Ever since, they’ve been prevented by the NCAA’s ban against the Confederate flag which flies on Statehouse grounds. The governing body changed its rules, allowing the top 16 seeds to play the first two rounds at home.

Ezinne Kalu had 21 points for Savannah State.

South Carolina’s size, strength and athleticism eventually wore down the Tigers in their first-ever NCAA tournament game.

“In the second half, some of our youthfulness took over,” Savannah State coach Cedric Baker said.

After Jasmine Norman’s bucket made it 49-39 with 16:04 left, the Gamecocks went on their game-changing run to take control and win their sixth straight opening NCAA tournament game.

This figured to be mismatch in a lot of ways. Besides only one 16th seed upset over a No. 1 in history – Harvard’s take down of top-seeded Stanford in 1998 – these teams met in December with the then No. 1 ranked Gamecocks running away for a 111-49 victory.

South Carolina used its strong inside game of 6-foot-5 Wilson, 6-4 Alaina Coates and 6-4 Elem Ibiam to dominate in the blowout. The power trio combined for 64 points and 20 rebounds.

This time, though, the Tigers did a much better job keeping South Carolina from roaming free inside. Coates broke free for three quick baskets for a 26-12 lead midway through the opening period as the Gamecocks threatened to run and hide once again. Instead the MEAC champs pushed the pace for easy buckets of their own.

When Kalu hit a 3-pointer with 2:28 to go before halftime, South Carolina’s lead had shrunk to 36-28.

South Carolina went into the break ahead 43-30, a sizable difference from Dec. 14 when the Gamecocks led the Tigers 60-22 at halftime.

While Coates had nine first-half points, Wilson and Ibiam had two points apiece and took a combined four shots.

It was the Tigers who had the rebound edge the first 20 minutes, 13-11, although that changed too in the second half with South Carolina moving in front 33-24.

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 10:02 PM with the headline "South Carolina women wallop Savannah State in NCAA first round."