Championship Pedigree Lifts South Carolina Over Stanford

South Carolina fended off Stanford in a precursor to a potential tournament matchup down the road.

Head coach Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks have become one of college's most dominant teams. A big reason for this is their willingness to test themselves against the toughest of adversaries.

One of those teams has been the Stanford Cardinals, constantly one of South Carolina's most formidable challengers on the court.

They showed why on Sunday afternoon, as they had a stranglehold on the momentum for most of this game. They beat the Gamecocks on the glass, snagging 47 rebounds to the Gamecocks' 41. The Cardinals also got solid play from their stars Cameron Brink and Haley Jones, who combined for 36 total points in the game.

There's an old saying in sports, however, which stresses that it's not how you start, it's how you finish, and with a 10-point deficit entering the fourth quarter on the road, the Gamecocks showed their championship mettle. 

Relying on their usual defensive advantage, South Carolina held Stanford to a measly seven points in the fourth quarter and slowly but surely cut away at their lead.

Then, down two with eight seconds remaining on the clock, the Gamecocks put the ball in the hands of the reigning national player of the year Aliyah Boston, who got away from her defender and subsequently clanged the ball off the back iron and into the net to tie the game.

The Gamecocks held firm on the Cardinals' final possession in regulation, deflecting and securing an inbound pass intended for Brink and thus forcing overtime.

In the overtime period, it became the back-and-forth affair that the sport envisioned seeing between the two powerhouse programs as the teams went on their small runs in the first half. 

A big moment occurred with around three minutes remaining in the contest. On a layup attempt by Laeticia Amihere, Stanford center Cameron Brink brought her arm down, affecting Amihere's shot path, which drew her fifth foul and thus removed her from the game.

With the Cardinals down one of their top players, Boston would attack the paint on the following possessions and hit multiple layups to give the Gamecocks a lead they would not relinquish.

Despite sloppy offensive play and lackluster three-point shooting, South Carolina made plays when it mattered most, which is why they will remain No. 1 when the polls come out on Monday.

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