The No. 1 seed South Carolina Gamecocks’ offense was simply too good Monday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, as the defending champs continued their undefeated season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four with an 86-75 victory over the No. 2 seed Maryland Terrapins.
No. 1 in defensive rating and No. 1 in offensive rating nationally, the Gamecocks made key threes when they needed to (including two apiece from guards Zia Cooke and Brea Beal) and received some unguardable layups from 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso as well. Aliyah Boston led the way with 22 points to go along with 10 rebounds and five assists. SC just never had a scoring lull and Maryland really needed it to. Twenty-five offensive rebounds help prevent any lull.
Maryland opened the second half with a Diamond Miller transition layup that cut its deficit to six. But Cooke would make a back-breaking play when she stole the ball from the Terps right after a Maryland defensive rebound and put up a layup that made it 46-36 SC at the 6:30 mark of the third. Had Maryland gone the other way and scored, it would have cut it to six again. Instead it was a 10-point lead for the Gamecocks and there was a Maryland offensive foul on the ensuing possession. On the SC possession after…
