South Carolina women's basketball beats Cal Poly 79-36, ends four-game road trip undefeated - Greenville News

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South Carolina women's basketball completed its four-game road trip with an undefeated record, dominating Cal Poly 79-36 two days after beating No. 2 Stanford in an overtime thriller.

The Gamecocks (5-0) held the Mustangs (2-3) scoreless for almost the entire first quarter and gave up just 17 points in the first half. The defense was equally stifling after halftime, holding Cal Poly to five points in the third quarter. South Carolina finished with 13 blocks and eight steals while out-rebounding Cal Poly 54 to 26.

Five South Carolina players scored in double-digits, lead by senior guard Laeticia Amihere with 13. The win was the Gamecocks' third of the season by more than 40 points.

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Boston, Beal continue to dominate

Reigning national player of the year Aliyah Boston was named the SEC Player of the Week after recording a double-double against Stanford, and she added another against Cal Poly. In 21 minutes on the court, Boston logged 12 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Senior guard Brea Beal has anchored South Carolina's defense so far this season and made her presence felt against the Mustangs. She recorded a career-high four blocks, all of which came in the first half. She also logged seven defensive rebounds, five assists and a steal.

Fletcher gets comfortable at PG

Georgia Tech transfer Kierra Fletcher missed all of last season with a foot injury, but the graduate student point guard is settling in to her role in the Gamecocks' starting lineup. Against Stanford, the Cardinal seemed to identify Fletcher as a weak link and dropped defenders off of her to double-team Boston. When Cal Poly tried a similar strategy, Fletcher was able to exploit it, finishing with eight points and five rebounds.

"I think (her comfort level) is getting better. It's not where it's going to be," coach Dawn Staley said. "But it's not where it was maybe a week ago. I think the more time we're able to practice and she can get some game experience should ... help us out and help her ability to form some chemistry with everyone else."

Redshirt freshman Raven Johnson, who has rotated with Fletcher at point guard, played 10 minutes to Fletcher's 18, but Johnson outplayed Fletcher 18 to 11 minutes against Stanford, so the question still remains who Staley prefers as a long-term starter.

Turnovers, shooting concerns linger

South Carolina played a cleaner game at Stanford with 11 turnovers, but that performance was bookended by two sloppy ones at Clemson last Thursday and tonight at Cal Poly. The Gamecocks had 20 turnovers against the Tigers and 17 against the Mustangs with nine different players giving up the ball at least once.

The Gamecocks also continued to struggle from beyond the 3-point arc, shooting 27.3% on 3-pointers with 58 of their 79 points coming in the paint. After shooting 5-of-17 at Stanford, South Carolina is ranked 145th in the country in three-point percentage. The team also had issues at the free throw line, shooting just 4-of-12. Only Johnson made more than one free throw, sinking both of the two she attempted.

"Obviously it was a tough stretch for us, and you saw a little in the first half, we looked sluggish. We looked like we were in quicksand," Staley said. "A lot of that is probably just mental fatigue — and physical fatigue, but we've got to strengthen the mental part of it ... We're making it known to our players that when fatigue sets in, something else has to kick in. We've got to build some more habits to perform a lot quicker than we did today."