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Below Staley, South Carolina has won 1 countrywide title, in 2017, and she entered this period, her 14th as the head mentor, with a 7-12 months, $22.4 million deal extension and anticipations at new heights.
Two of her A-listing recruits, the juniors Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke, are at the helm of what is now a seasoned crew, with 5 returning starters from the trip to a countrywide semifinal, the place South Carolina narrowly lost to Stanford.
Boston is the team’s centerpiece, able to score from numerous much more pieces of the floor than her 6-foot-5 frame may possibly recommend. Final season she averaged a double-double (13.7 factors and 11.5 rebounds), and this yr, right after investing the off-season functioning on her conditioning, she has proved able of running the floor with even her smallest, speediest peers. She is crafty in the vicinity of the basket, but more stunning is her capability to once in a while rating from at the rear of the 3-position line.
Cooke entered the college or university match on a wave of spotlight reels from the types of shops that commonly aim on N.B.A. dunks. Her flash is balanced by Destanni Henderson, a 5-foot-7 senior guard who is the team’s primary facilitator and a scoring danger.
The team’s overall knowledge, although, can make it especially perilous. A deep bench capabilities promising freshmen, additionally players who have previously logged lots of minutes like the junior Laeticia Amihere and the senior Future Littleton.
That experience interprets into suffocating defensive force.
“You didn’t genuinely see the impression in the 1st 50 percent,” Staley mentioned after Monday’s win. “The third and fourth quarters are when you start out emotion what our defense does to groups.” Connecticut, for illustration, was 1 of 11 from the discipline in the fourth quarter, not able to get about the Gamecocks, who experienced 4 steals in that interval.
Staley, who has prolonged been known for her emphasis on defense, known as this crew “the ideal and the deepest” of the ones she has coached on that entrance.
