When SEC play starts Thursday, South Carolina launches a quest to do something achieved only once before in SEC women’s basketball: Go undefeated for a third consecutive league season.
The Gamecocks — who remain at No. 2 in this week’s ESPN women’s college basketball Power Rankings — went 16-0 in the SEC the past two years. All 16 teams are in action Thursday: South Carolina begins conference play at Missouri (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network), and league newcomers Texas and Oklahoma square off (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
No SEC team has defeated South Carolina in the regular season since Missouri, on Dec. 30, 2021, in overtime. The Gamecocks also lost the SEC tournament final that season, to Kentucky, but went on to win the 2022 national championship.
Then in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, the Gamecocks lost just one game total: in the 2023 national semifinals to Iowa, going 74-1 in that stretch. So far in 2024-25, South Carolina is 12-1, the lone loss coming Nov. 24 at UCLA.
The Gamecocks are balanced and deep, with seven players averaging between…
