Guru’s March Madness - I: A Better Plan Puts South Carolina in the Elite Eight

By Mike Siroky

Dawn Staley had the best plan of all the Southeastern Conference tournament teams. 

She actually planned to use the 3, did not fold when her best player was hassled and won, 76-65 over fifth seed Georgia Tech Sunday in the two-court Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas .

The top-seeded Gamecocks in the Hemisfair Region started with a lead, different for the league in this tournament.

“The problem: too much focus, without being loose, trying to find a way to win with a young team,” said Staley. “It shows a whole lot of who they are. They are embracing the opportunity. 

“If there is going to be 3 party, we want in.”

She said, during the previous off day prior to the Gamecocks’ Sweet 16 game, she offered an extra shooting session.

 “I had eight players who wanted in,” she said. The result was 8-of-10 3s.

 Unlike other SEC teams, she didn’t have to be mystified by her own team. They showed a workable plan.

The handicap here: All-America Aliyah Boston was scoreless in the half and sat with two fouls after some ragged shots underneath including hitting the underside of  the backboard on one attempt.

Off the bench, Canadian sophomore Laeticia Amihere was the answer, not missing inside or from the line. She scored 15.

“Especially in the tournament right now. The bench has got to be big,” she said. ‘The bench is who we are.”

Without its senior reserve, out with injury, the play of Amihere was essential.

“It’s who can adapt and who can move forward,” she said.

Even when Boston goes scoreless in a half. 

“She is an all-round player, more than points. She gives us so much more to the team, we can feel her presence,” Amihere said.

“It starts in practice. We have a great game plan. Everybody has to step up. Just focused on the game made it my best game. Everyone is bringing her best.” 

Amihere is still rehabbing a knee injury. 

She also  plans to play for Team Canada again once this is over. 

“This team is determined and focused on the game at hand,” Staley said. “Over the course of 40 minutes, we forced Georgia Tech to do things they did not to want to do.

“We’re playing where we wanted to be later in the season

“L.A. (Amihere) knows she is going to playing. It couldn’t happen at a better time. Focused but loose, but today I thought we were focused but tight.

“In the second quarter, we just had to scrap it. We were getting hung up on it. The coaches, we just found the path of least resistance, giving up the best chance to win.

“Not many teams have gotten here. It’s what the legacy of some of our leaders have left for us.

“There too many great teams and great leaders here, you can’t flip a switch and just win. 

“L.A, is stubborn. You just don’t recover from two ACLs. She needs to be needed, a consistent game plan that she is going into the game. We didn’t have any fluff into our schedule, but I thought I could have given her more earlier.

“All talent, all that skill set. This team has been pretty special. They all want the best for each other, even at their own expense. 

“She stuck it to me, showing me this is what you coulda got earlier.”

It had started well, twice with 10-point leads and twice with blowing them. but SC never let Georgia Teach ahead.

They led by four at halftime after defensive lapses in the final two minutes.

Zia Cooke had 11 in the half, 3-of-4 3s, eventually 5-of-6.  

Off the bench for Boston, Amihere had 10, 4-of-5 from the field, 2-of-2 at the line.

SC hit five 3s early after hitting four in the previous two games. 

The first big run was  7-0. The Yellow Jackets answered with a 10-4 comeback

For Tech, Lotta-Maj Lahtinen scored an impressive 16 in the half, 7-of-10 from the floor. 

The junior from Finland averaged 14.8 for the season.  Shed only was allowed four in the second half.

SC allowed a 3 ball at the buzzer of the half to carve into its lead, leaving it at four with the enthusiasm claimed by the Tech locker room.

SC’s defense remained focused but tight to start the second half as Tech quickly earned a layup off the tip to cut the lead to two. 

Obviously a Staley plan, SC got it immediately to Boston and she laid it in. She beat two defenders for a second basket. 

She got a break in a collision.

Instead of a charge, she earned the old-fashioned three-point play. Seven points in two minutes. That call could easily be the play of the game. Had the 50/50 call gone against her, the whole rest of the game would be different.

Boston grabbed a rebound on a Lahtinen miss. Cooke drove into a charge.  Boston fed Beal for a layup and the lead was nine.

Saxton earned a layup. The lead was 11 as Staley’s plan of going through her frontline put the lead at its largest. Destiny Henderson hit a 3. SC’s defense lost the ball handler for the fourth time. 

Senior guard Kiera Fletcher scored back-to- back drives.

Amihere styed aggressive. She drove for  layin and was fouled. The free throw was good.

SC settled the offense after a steal, Saxton scored again, her 10^th points, 5-of-5. 

“(Saxton) is a ball of energy. She gives us the boost we need, day in and day out,” Amihere said post-game.

Destiny Littleton held ground and took a charge from Lahtinen.

Saxton was unbeatable on yet another drive. SC was just fine if Tech continued to hassle Boston, shutting her down again after a 7-0 start. With 16 seconds left, Brea Beal stopped a drive with a foul. 

They had some to give. Five straight Tech points left SC ahead at the third break by a dozen.

Lahtinen had 18.  SC was hitting 60 percent , Amihere had 11, but bad defense cost them some.

The Gamecocks were 0-for-4 to start the fourth, were outhustled by Tech time and again on defense. Staley was not happy. Her team was making Tech look better than they were. She did not want to allow  this to be the SEC’s final game.

She demanded a time out just as SC was about to turn it over again. 

At the pause, the lead was sliced from 17 to nine only two minutes into the final quarter of one of these teams. 

Lahtinen was five points past her average with 20 but SC closed her down.

SC was working on its transition offense, still looking to Boston as a first option. Henderson earned two free throws. It was 69-58. Boston grabbed a defensive rebound. Five minutes left.

SC needed to maintain against Tech’s frenetic play in a game in which Tech had a solution for Al-America Boston. Who had the final push? Amihere had 15 against a career high of 16.

SC somehow gave up an uncontested layup. Tech got another possession when SC stumbled a rebound away. Tech hit a 3. Henderson scored on a drive. Boston grabbed a rebound, the lead eight.

Cooke hit her third 3, SC 8-of-14 3s. The next possession ended with an air ball as the shot clock expired. Boston hit a long shot, making the lead nine. She  scored for the first time since early in the third. Tech stepped out of bounds with1:45 left. Tech was leading in rebounds for the first time all year SC had been beaten there. SC even recovered there, to win that statistic by one, Amihere with seven.

It ended as the fifth trip to Elite Eight for the program, four under Staley. They had an 11-point lead with a minute left and cruised into the next round at 25-4. 

Then they joined virtually everyone in America later Sunday night, learning off one of the great shockers, the former rival coach from Mississippi State, now at sixth-seed Texas, Vic Schafer will be on the other bench after stunning might second-seeded Maryland 64-61 four years later after he had led the Bulldogs at the buzzer in overtime in the 2017 national semifinals to bring down Connecticut and the record 119-win streak.

Two days later, however, it was Staley in an all-SEC final beating Schaefer and Mississippi State for the Gamecocks’ first NCAA title.

Now Schaefer, whose team upset third-seeded UCLA to advance to Sunday, is the next barrier just ahead as South Carolina continues the chase for title No. 2.