FINAL: Cardoso's Paint Presence Sinks Commodores In 91-74 Win

South Carolina's women's basketball team saw their senior center go into takeover mode in a convincing win over the Vanderbilt Commodores.

The South Carolina Gamecocks, coming off just two days of rest after their huge win against No. 9 LSU, came into the Colonial Life Arena today looking to make sure that the Vanderbilt Commodores didn't sneak up on them. Thanks in large part to the play of their one starters, the game played out exactly in that fashion.

The first five minutes of the game was a track meet between the Gamecocks and the Commodores, with both teams hitting five of their first eight shots from the floor and being tied at twelve points a piece at the 4:51 mark in the first quarter. Kamilla Cardoso, in particular, got whatever she wanted at the start of the contest, scoring eight of South Carolina's first twelve points.

Throughout the rest of the first half, Dawn Staley's team began to settle in more on the defensive end, and besides a couple of breakdowns in terms of dribble penetration, held Vanderbilt in check, allowing just six more makes in the final 16 minutes and one second before halftime.

Kamilla Cardoso goes up for a rebound against Vanderbilt (28th Jan., 2024) / Jeff Blake | USA Today Network

In the third quarter, the Gamecocks began to pull away from the Commodores as they continued to prioritize getting the basketball to Cardoso on the low-block. Kamilla would repay her teammates generosity by hitting each of her five shots in the period, scoring 13 total points and finishing the game just two points shy of her career high of 25 she set back in her freshman season with the Syracuse Orange.

Cardoso's dominance on the inside combined with Vanderbilt's inability to hit three's after the first quarter led to South Carolina slowly pulling away and securing their nineteenth victory of the season. They'll go back on the road for their next conference matchup when they take on the Auburn Tigers on Thursday night. 

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