South Carolina held off a late Tennessee rally for its fifth consecutive win over a ranked team. Here’s what stood out to me from the game.

– On Sunday, Dawn Staley predicted there would be a feeling-out period as both teams figured out what adjustments they needed to make, followed by a run. There’s a reason they pay her the big bucks.

South Carolina fell behind 14-5 and then flipped a switch, going on a 26-6 run ove the next 10 minutes. Despite missing eight of their first ten shots, the Gamecocks ended up shooting 15-30 in the first half.

I thought the biggest adjustment South Carolina made was rebounding. Tennessee was plus-five in the first quarter, and then minus-three in the second.

The Gamecocks realized that you can’t just box out and wait for the rebound against the Lady Vols. All those long jumpers mean long rebounds and weird angles. All five players have to run to the ball. That’s what the Gamecocks did and it was one of the keys in turning the game around.

– Maddy McDaniel was a huge part of how South Carolina turned the game around in the first half. She entered the game and committed a quick turnover. Then on her next two possessions McDaniel broke the press to set up an easy layup, and then got a steal that she took the other way for a layup. That was the crucial part of the 8-0 run that erased Tennessee’s first-quarter lead.

[Win tickets: South Carolina-Auburn WBB]

McDaniel finished with six points, an assist, and two turnovers. It wasn’t a perfect game by any means, and Staley didn’t trust McDaniel enough to play her in the fourth quarter, but it was a big step in the right direction for a player who has barely seen the court since suffering a concussion. 

“I thought she gave us what she could,” Staley said. “It’s a hard game to play in as a young player. I thought she handled certain parts of it really well and then you fall prey to thinking that you can dribble through that type of pressure.”

“Other times she just played fast, where she couldn’t create other options,” Staley continued, explaining why McDaniel didn’t play more.

– MiLaysia was havoc on the court as usual. She made back-to-back threes in the second quarter to give South Carolina its first lead of the game and finished with 11 points. That was the good havoc. The bad havoc was everything else. 

Fulwiley had four fouls and two turnovers in just 10 minutes. Worse, she shot Tennessee back into the game by taking (and missing) quick, ill-advised threes in the fourth quarter. 

Staley didn’t specify Fulwiley by name, but it was clearly who she was referring to when she said, “We took bad shots. I think we could have secured our lead a little bit better but we didn’t.”

It is, as Staley acknowledged recently, the give and take with Fulwiley. You have to give her the freedom to create. But then she goes too far and it it becomes a problem.