The Dawn of Perfection
02/24/2023
By: Jeff Yoder
Women’s No. 1 South Carolina Rallies to Beat Tennessee (73-60) to Keep Perfect Season Alive (28-0)
Still perfect! The South Carolina women’s basketball team is now 28-0 after a comeback win at Tennessee in an SEC battle on Thursday night (73-60). The Gamecocks trailed the Vols by 10 in the first half before turning it on. Zia Cooke (19 points) caught fire to flip the scoreboard from 16-26 to 31-26 with a 15-0 run in the second quarter. Kierra Fletcher (15) and Aliyah Boston (11) added 26 points and Brea Beal (11-11-5) had a double-double. South Carolina is now 28-0 with one regular season game remaining (vs. Georgia, Sun. Noon ET). They’ve only had five games decided by single digits this season, including two overtime wins. With a title run next month, South Carolina and head coach Dawn Staley could go back-to-back and complete the first undefeated season since UConn in 2016 (38-0). Staley’s Gamecocks won it all in 2022 with a 35-2 record — now 63-2 in their last 65 games.
Is this the next UConn dynasty? Perfection awaits.
NCAA Women’s Scoreboard
#1 South Carolina def. Tennessee (73-60)
#3 Stanford def. #21 Colorado (73-62, 2OT)
#5 LSU def. Vanderbilt (82-63)
#8 Utah def. California (101-76)
#9 Virginia Tech def. #22 North Carolina (61-59)*
#10 Notre Dame def. Georgia Tech (76-53)
#11 Duke def. NC State (77-62)
Oregon def. #14 Arizona (73-59)
*Virginia Tech Escapes North Carolina With Buzzer-Beating Shot
NCAA Men’s Scoreboard
#12 Gonzaga def. San Diego (97-72)
Illinois def. #21 Northwestern (66-62)
We’ll unpack the conference standings and winners as they unfold next week. March is coming fast…
Photo: Eakin Howard / Getty Images