So long, Big Blue: Gamecocks again too much for Kentucky

Fifteen rounds and everybody was ready for more.

“I think, in general, it’s tough to get through, but I think at the same time ... it’s USC-Kentucky,” Kaela Davis said. “They’re a physical team.”

South Carolina advanced to its third straight SEC tournament championship game over the Wildcats on Saturday, 89-77, surviving a Kentucky comeback after being ahead by 14 points. With bodies denting the floor throughout – USC’s Alaina Coates, Kentucky’s Jaida Roper and Evelyn Akhator were each banged up, while the Wildcats’ Taylor Murray didn’t play because of whiplash sustained in Friday’s quarterfinal – USC (26-4) got enough big plays and free throws to again be in the final pairing.

The Gamecocks will play Mississippi State at 3 p.m. Sunday for the tournament championship. A likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament could also be gained with a USC title.

It’s part of what the program has gained over the past five years, coach Dawn Staley said, and the Gamecocks are always looking for more.

“When you play against stiff competition like we have in our league, you can make history,” Staley said. “We want to continue to make history with our program.”

Kentucky and the Gamecocks have become bitter rivals and both play very physical defense. With the officials deciding to let them play, the two went at each other with the savageness of a heavyweight fight.

Each team could barely miss early, but USC spurted ahead behind SEC Player of the Year A’ja Wilson and freshman Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, who was filling in for the ailing Coates. Herbert Harrigan scored a career-high 17 points, 14 in the first half, and was almost perfect from the field.

“I was just confident out there,” Herbert Harrigan said. “It felt great.”

Again relentlessly attacking the lane and its guards hitting shots, USC took an 11-point lead into halftime. Yet the Wildcats (21-10) were never going to give up. Even without Murray, who cooked USC for 29 points in the rivals’ last game, they had weapons.

The biggest, guard Makayla Epps, was schooling the Gamecocks off the dribble, and had 16 of her 31 points by halftime. When USC hit a cold spell in the third quarter, Epps and her teammates quickly took advantage.

The lead shrunk to two before the Gamecocks woke, getting the ball to Wilson and tightening the defense. Wilson finished with 26 points while Davis had 17, and Epps began to miss shots.

USC extended the lead, surviving a scary moment when Coates planted her right foot and her tender ankle again buckled, leading to her removal from the game. Allisha Gray, who had fought through her own early dustup to play 29 minutes, then had the play of the game.

Gray fought Kentucky downcourt and plucked a loose ball, turning it into a steal-and-score for an eight-point lead. USC locked it from the line, bid farewell to its nemesis Epps and prepared for Championship Sunday.

“When it’s that type of atmosphere, your team can find the energy to get up and down the floor,” Staley said of the mostly garnet-clad Bon Secours Wellness Arena. “We’ve got to find a way to sustain that, not allow teams to get back in the game, take things out of our control.”

NOTE: Coates will not play Sunday, although she felt fine after the game. Staley wants to sit her for the next two weeks, and said Coates will be back for the NCAA tournament.

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 9:37 PM with the headline "So long, Big Blue: Gamecocks again too much for Kentucky."