NCAAW: Ashlyn Watkins dunks as South Carolina dominates TCU

Are the contenders beginning to separate themselves from the pretenders in women’s college basketball? Here’s more on the teams and players who made a statement last week:

Gamecocks reestablish greatness

With less than 90 seconds remaining in the first quarter of Sunday night’s game between South Carolina and TCU, South Carolina junior forward Ashlyn Watkins stole the ball from TCU grad guard Madison Conner, raced down the court and dunked it home over the late contest from TCU grad center Sedona Prince.

Watkins’ right-handed slam—the third of her career—encapsulated the Gamecocks’ win over the erstwhile undefeated Horned Frogs. They took it from them, and then they took it to them.

Before Watkins’ dunk, the Gamecocks were leading by five points, with the early action promising a close contests between the two top-10 teams. Soon thereafter, however, South Carolina proved their superiority. Up 44-23 at the half, the Gamecocks would stretch their advantage to as many as 38 points before cruising to the 85-52 win.

It was a vintage South Carolina domination, with head coach Dawn Staley’s team overwhelming the opponent with aggressiveness, intensity and depth. Sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley led the Gamecocks in scoring with 20 points from off the bench, while senior guard Te-Hina Paopao and junior guard Raven Johnson both added 11 points. The 3-for-6 performance from 3 for Johnson was especially encouraging, as she has struggled with her shot during the season’s first month. Junior forward Chloe Kitts did the most work on the glass for the Gamecocks, bringing down a game-high 12 boards.

Outside of grad guard Hailey Van Lith, TCU found little on the offensive end. Van Lith finished with 21 points and six assists, while Prince, who was averaging a double-double on the season, managed just six points and two rebounds. The Horned Frogs, who were averaging nearly 29 3-point attempts per game, got up just 19 3s and made only five. Those marks are a testament to how the Gamecocks prevented the Frogs from executing their preferred game plan, turning one of the nation’s highest-scoring teams into an adrift, aimless offense.

The victory gave South Carolina four-straight double-digit wins, with the last two of those coming over teams ranked in the top 10, as the Gamecocks defeated Duke on Thursday in the SEC/ACC Challenge. In short, proclamations about a return to parity in women’s college basketball after South Carolina suffered a single loss might have been premature. Whatever happens this season, it looks like it will still run through Columbia.

Standout showings

The best players in women’s college basketball continue to put up big numbers, highlighted by this collection record-breaking, head-turning performers:

JuJu Watkins notched her first 40-ball of the season on Tuesday, dropping an even 40 points in USC’s 94-52 win over Cal Baptist. The sophomore star drained nine of her 11 3-point attempts, setting a new program. The previous mark was held by assistant coach Courtney Jaco, who made seven in a game in 2017. Watkins also added six boards and three blocks to her stat line.

UConn’s freshman forward delivered her Strong-est game yet. Sarah Strong scored a season-high 22 points, shooting 75 percent from the field and 4-for-5 from 3, on Tuesday, helping the Huskies shake off a slow start to defeat Holy Cross, 88-52. On Sunday, she made a case that such performances are becoming her new norm, going 5-for-5 from 2 and 3-for-5 from 3 to lead UConn past Louisville, 85-52, with 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists. For more on Strong’s promise, check out Edwin Garcia’s breakdown of her game.

Listen to what Stailee Heard did last week! The Oklahoma State sophomore guard was a sparkling 7-for-7 from 3, scoring a (temporary) career-high 29 points as the Cowgirls trampled Houston Christian, 93-39, on Wednesday. Heard not only grabbed 10 boards for the double-double, but also notched three steals and two blocks for a complete performance. Heard, however, wasn’t done. On Friday, she hit even more 3s and scored even more points! Going 8-for-11 from deep, Heard set another new career-high with 32 points. She again corralled 10 boards, while also tossing six assists as the Cowgirls bested Alabama State, 125-49.

Down by as many as 18 points, Florida State charged back against Tennessee in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday before coming up just short, 79-77. While it might have been the Seminoles’ fourth game in seven days, the heavy schedule did not slow junior guard Ta’Niya Latson, who cemented her status as the nation’s leading scorer with 38 points. Sunday, Latson showed she still had more points in reserve, uncorking a season-high 39 points as FSU held off SMU to get their first conference win, 93-85.

Senior guard Serena Sundell secured her first-career triple-double and Kansas State delivered the largest victory in program history on Thursday. The Wildcats downed SC Upstate 110-24 as Sundell finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, with her 13 dimes also tying the single-game school record. (The historic game also followed Tuesday’s history-making night in Manhattan; see more on that one below.)

Arkansas earned their best win of the season on Thursday, beating Boston College 75-64 in the SEC/ACC Challenge. Izzy Higginbottom did the heavy lifting for the Hogs, scoring a season-high 38 points. The senior guard, in her first season at Arkansas after two years at Arkansas State, did all of her damage inside the arc or from the free throw line.

Small guard, big game. That describes Murray State sophomore guard Halli Poock and what she did on Saturday. Standing just 5-foot-4, Poock finished with 30 points, including six 3-pointers, and eight assists as the Racers ran over Austin Peay, 116-80.

On Sunday, sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo became the fastest player in Notre Dame history to reach the 1,000-point milestone, doing so in just 44 games. Hidalgo dropped 24 points on Syracuse as the Irish won 93-62. On Thursday, her 30 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals helped Notre Dame take down Texas in overtime in the SEC/ACC Challenge, 80-70.

LSU senior wing Aneesah Morrow recorded her 83rd career double-double on Sunday, putting up 26 points and pulling down 16 rebounds in the win over Grambling, 100-54. She’s now eighth on the all-time double-doubles list.

All-time Yokie

In Tuesday’s 90-43 win over Eastern Illinois, Kansas State grad center Ayoka Lee became the school’s all-time leading scorer, claiming 2,236 career points. Lee attained the mark in expectedly efficient fashion, making her final seven shot attempts, which included the record-breaking basket midway through the third quarter.

After the game, head coach Jeff Mittie remarked on Lee’s time at K-State, saying:

One of the things that has made her such a great player is you really don’t have to tell her too many things twice. So I haven’t had that conversation with her very often, although there are games where you know you have to, as a coach say, “Hey you’re not getting the position that you need to in this game.” Ayoka had a tremendous ability to take coaching. She’s had a terrific ability of being able to adjust when needed.

On breaking the record, Lee herself said, “It’s crazy, I am so grateful. It takes a lot of games, it takes a lot of passes, it takes a lot of everything, you know, to get to that point. It’s crazy.”

Paige debuts PE

On Saturday, Paige Bueckers became the first college athlete with her own player-edition shoe, as she debuted her Nike GT Hustle 3 PE in UConn’s win over Louisville at the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn.

Before the big day, Bueckers had said, “It’s definitely motivating to wear your own shoe. I grew up wearing Nikes—all the signature shoes—so it’s surreal to have this Player Edition model. I just want to show out in it.”

That didn’t exactly happen, as Bueckers had a rare, inefficient outing at Barclays Center, going just 2-for-11 from the field and finishing with eight points. As noted above, it was freshman Sarah Strong who occupied the starring role for the victorious Huskies. Yet, sooner than later, it will be no surprise when Bueckers’ lives up the mantra, repeated to her by her dad, that is inscribed on her shoe: “Be You, Be Great.”

A look ahead

The reprisal of the UConn-Notre Dame rivalry highlights the action in the week ahead:

Wednesday, Dec. 11

Iowa State vs. Iowa (9 p.m. ET, FS1)

Thursday, Dec. 12

UConn vs. Notre Dame (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Sunday, Dec. 15

Iowa vs. Michigan State (12 p.m. ET, BTN)

NC State vs. Louisville (1 p.m. ET, ABC)

Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina (2 p.m. ET, ACCN)