The third-ranked University of South Carolina Gamecocks scored the game’s first 15 points and never looked back en route to a 79-42 victory over the University of Maine Black Bears in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge in Columbia, South Carolina, on Monday night.
The Gamecocks, who were 33-2 a year ago and lost to Syracuse in the Sweet 16, improved to 3-0 while UMaine fell to 2-3.
The Black Bears will take on Hampton University at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Six-foot-five junior forward A’ja Wilson, the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year and a first team All-American last season, scored the game’s first six points as coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks hit on four of their first five shots while Maine missed its first five field goal attempts.
The Black Bears also turned the ball over five times during South Carolina’s 15-0 run. Freshman Fanny Wadling finally ended the drought by converting fellow freshman Laia Sole’s pass.
Blanca Millan followed with a 3-pointer to pull UMaine within 15-5.
South Carolina rattled off 11 unanswered points in the second quarter to transform a 22-10 lead into a comfortable 33-10 advantage and the hosts entered the intermission holding a 43-19 lead.
Wilson finished with a game-high 14 points and four blocked shots while 6-foot-4 senior center Alaina Coates had 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds including 10 points and 12 rebounds in the first half.
Mikiah Herbert Harrigan had 13 points and eight rebounds for the winners with Tiffany Davis and Allisha Gray contributing 10 points and three assists apiece.
Freshman guard Julie Brosseau had a career-high 11 points for the Black Bears and freshman forward Anita Kelava had seven points as did Naira Caceres. Laia Sole had four rebounds and three assists, Sigi Koizar had four points, three rebounds and two assists and Tanesha Sutton chipped in four rebounds and two steals to go with two points.
South Carolina shot 56 percent from the floor compared to UMaine’s 27 percent.
The taller Gamecocks outrebounded UMaine 42-27 and outscored the Black Bears 52-8 in the paint.
Wilson had eight points in the first half, Bianca Cuevas-Moore had seven and Gray had six as South Carolina shot 58 percent from the floor (19-for-33) while holding the Black Bears to 23 percent shooting (7-for-30).
“South Carolina was very good but I thought we battled and gave it everything we had. They’re better than we are right now,” said UMaine head coach Richard Barron to Learfield broadcaster Don Shields. “But I still have faith that as this team grows into our system, they can take down a ranked opponent. We can play above our level.
“I was more proud of the team in this game than I was in our win over Saint Peter’s on Sunday,” added Barron. “The kids worked their tails off. We only had 13 turnovers. They took 33 shots in the first half and we took 30. We went toe to toe with them but we didn’t make our shots. There were a lot of positives.”
He praised Brosseau and Kelava for their performances as well as Kirsten Johnson, who wound up with four points.