FINAL: Gamecocks Smoke Rebels In Dominant 85-56 Win

South Carolina's women's basketball team took a while to find their groove but were unstoppable when they did so against the Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday.

Over the past few years, the Ole Miss Rebels have been one of the select few teams who have been able to challenge Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks. While that remained the case for a while on Sunday afternoon, Carolina eventually found the winning formula in the second half, and pulled away easily afterwards.

In the first half, the Gamecocks found themselves in a bind early on, as the primary focal point of their offense, Kamilla Cardoso, picked up two fouls in the first three minutes and seven seconds of game time, forcing Dawn to put her on the bench until the second quarter. Without Cardoso on the floor, Carolina struggled to get into a rhythm on offense against the persistent pressure defense the Rebels like to play.

On the other end of the floor, Staley's squad had some issues preventing dribble penetration from Ole Miss, which not only allowed them to get closer looks at the basket, but also got multiple Gamecocks in foul trouble, as three different players possessed two fouls. However, South Carolina would go on an 8-0 run in the final three minutes of the second quarter which put them up 40-31 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the floodgates bursted open. The Gamecocks made it a point of emphasis to get the ball down low to Cardoso, and with the Brazilian able to play more freely at this point in the game, she and the rest of the frontcourt made Ole Miss pay, hitting six layups on their own accord. What also helped get the offense was South Carolina's ability to run down the floor in transition, which played to the pace that Raven Johnson prefers.

In the fourth quarter, the Gamecocks saw contributions from all over the roster as nine different players scored at least one point in the period. South Carolina handed Ole Miss their worst loss of the season with the 29-point margin at the final buzzer, and remain undefeated at 21-0 with a date with Missouri coming up on Thursday night.

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