Gamecocks Roll Past Arkansas, Move Onto SEC Semifinals

South Carolina's Women's Basketball team moved past the Arkansas Razorbacks thanks to a potent offensive showing lead by their front court.

Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks were asked after their final regular season game how they felt they would handle the upcoming stretch of games in the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, with the head coach conveying that it would essentially be business as usual for her team in terms of preparation and execution. On Friday afternoon, Aliyah Boston and the rest of South Carolina's squad gave a resounding answer to that question, defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks 93-66.

It was an offensive outburst by South Carolina's standards, and was lead by the front court, with 64 of the Gamecocks points coming from their forwards. While we've come to expect South Carolina's consistent dominant showings in the paint area, what people probably didn't expect was for the Gamecocks' leading scorer to be 5th year senior Victaria Saxton, who scored a season high 19 points while shooting a mind-boggling 80 percent from the field.

Saxton consistently got a leg up on Arkansas' front court through her relentless effort on the low block in terms of establishing an advantageous position on the floor, and was rewarded for her off-ball play by being the recipient of passes from Aliyah Boston, Kierra Fletcher and Raven Johnson. Victaria then used both her basketball IQ she's attained through her college career and her footwork to both give herself a good shot opportunity and shield the ball from any nearby defenders, which served as catalysts for her season best performance offensively speaking.

Overall the Gamecocks gave great team effort on the offensive end, as their constant ball movement lead to multiple open shots being available without having to create much separation, evidenced by the Gamecocks 27 total assists on 53.3 percent shooting from the floor. Defensively, the Gamecocks had issues at times with defending the drive and kick, which lead to multiple easy three point shots for the Razorbacks, but other than that one aspect, South Carolina made Arkansas earn everything they got in the game.

One common theme the Gamecocks are beginning to develop against Arkansas is their control over the boards, as after breaking SEC records in this regard in their previous matchup, South Carolina nearly doubled the Razorbacks in rebounding this time out, securing 51 boards to the Hogs' 26. The win gives South Carolina 36 straight victories dating back to last season, and they'll take the floor again tomorrow in the semifinals where they'll take on the winner of the contest between Ole Miss and Texas A&M.

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