South Carolina coach Dawn Staley didn’t sugarcoat her team’s performance against Texas A&M, attributing the close contest to careless ball handling and offensive stagnation before the Gamecocks found their rhythm in the fourth quarter.
Never Really in Control
When asked what changed in the third quarter to regain control, Staley challenged the premise.
“I don’t think it was ever under control for the teams that are in our league,” Staley said. “For us just turnovers, unaware of the shot clock situation, and bad spacing. They capitalized because they scored a lot of points on us when we turned it over. Close to half of their points came from our turnovers. That was their defense and their grit and their ability to stay locked in and try to get a win.”
Edwards’ Playmaking Ability
Staley praised Joyce Edwards’ late-game takeover as precisely what championship teams need from their stars.
“Yeah, she can playmake,” Staley said. “I thought down the stretch we were a lot more focused on getting the ball where it needed to be. I think for a lot of the game offensively, we didn’t do a good job of moving the ball in a way that really impacts the defense. So we just played according to how Texas A&M wanted us to play. They did a great job of executing defensively.”
Aggies’ Defensive Discipline
Texas A&M’s defensive scheme proved effective in limiting South Carolina’s offensive flow throughout much of the game.
“Well, one, they were pretty aggressive. Two, they just stunted and tried to keep us on the side of the floor,” Staley explained. “When you don’t get ball movement, and you don’t get ball reversals, and you have to concentrate on one side of the floor, the percentage of your scoring gets lower and lower and lower. They did a pretty good job of just being disciplined to that. They rebounded the ball pretty well as well. As for us, we got a lot more ball movement in the fourth quarter when we needed to score.”
Defensive Performance
Despite the victory, Staley identified specific defensive breakdowns that kept the Aggies competitive.
“Other than the turnovers and the offensive rebounds, I think our half-court defense was pretty good,” she said. “We just got skewed with our inability to take care of the basketball and give them turnover points. They made us pay with second-chance points as well.”
Pryor’s Impact and Momentum Shift
Staley acknowledged Texas A&M guard Ny’Ceara Pryor’s strong performance while offering perspective on the game’s momentum swings.
“I thought she was great. Thank goodness there is a foul limitation, because if there wasn’t, they would probably be in a much different situation with two of the stars on their team because they fouled out,” Staley said.
On momentum, Staley offered a philosophical take: “It’s momentum. It doesn’t matter what team; momentum is faceless, right? Momentum is teamless. Momentum is momentum. And the team that’s able to grab it at any given moment can win basketball games. They had it at the end of the third quarter. And we tried to figure out how to do that. I think we had more defensive momentum after we stopped fouling in the fourth quarter, and then we were able to score.”
The comments suggest South Carolina survived more than dominated, with execution issues nearly costing them against an overmatched opponent.
