Fantastic Fulwiley: Star freshman powers No. 1 USC to dominant win over Presbyterian
No. 1 South Carolina defeated Presbyterian, 99-29, on Saturday at Colonial Life Arena. The victory extended USC’s record streak of consecutive home wins, which started Dec. 17, 2020, to 48.
Starting point guard Raven Johnson did not play against Presbyterian for resting purposes, South Carolina announced via X (formerly Twitter) before the game. Coach Dawn Staley told local media Friday she felt part of the Gamecocks’ recent turnover woes could be attributed to fatigue, adding she felt Johnson played too many consecutive minutes in their 78-69 win against No. 11 Utah last Sunday.
Freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley started in Johnson’s place Saturday and led all Gamecocks with 18 points, which tied her career high (first scored against Clemson in November).
“She looked comfortable,” Staley said, “and that’s what you want. I think the more experience she gets starting in any new unfamiliar situation, it’s going to help her. She’s playing at a high level on both sides of the basketball. Did not have a turnover, which is always good. We know she’s a stat filler. Just really happy for her. Hopefully she can continue to stack days and continue to give us that kind of output.”
The rest of the lineup remained the same, with center Kamilla Cardoso, forward Chloe Kitts and guards Te-Hina Paopao and Bree Hall. All 10 available South Carolina players made it on the court.
Seven Gamecocks ended the day with double-digit points: Fulwiley, Cardoso (12), Kitts (11), Hall (10), Tessa Johnson (13), Sakima Walker (12) and Ashlyn Watkins (10). Kitts and Watkins recorded double-doubles. They had 10 and 12 rebounds, respectively, in addition to their point totals
South Carolina (10-0) will play its next game, against Bowling Green State in Ohio, at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Fulwiley fantastic in second career start
Fulwiley — Staley’s freshman phenom — made her second career start on Saturday and scored 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. In doing so, Fulwiley became the third Gamecock to reach double-digit points in a single quarter this season, joining Cardoso (once) and Paopao (twice).
Fulwiley didn’t commit a single foul or turnover for the first time all season. She had deep 3s, reverse layups, fanatic blocks (three), key assists (four), savvy steals (four) and several rebounds (seven). But perhaps the most electric part of her performance was her halftime buzzer-beater.
The Gamecocks got the ball with four seconds remaining in the second quarter after Presbyterian shot two free throws. Fulwiley caught the inbound pass from Kitts at that end of the court, dribbled down inside South Carolina’s 3-point line and flicked the ball up for a clutch midrange shot.
“My team, my coach, they have faith that I’m gonna make the shot,” Fulwiley said. “So once I get the ball, and the time is going down, and when I put up the shot I just shoot it like I want it to go in.
“And it happens to go in. Quite often.”
Lock-down defense
The Gamecocks allowed the Blue Hose to score 29 points Saturday, the second fewest all season behind Mississippi Valley State’s 19.
Presbyterian scored just three points in the third quarter and five points in the second quarter. The third quarter figure ties the fewest points the Gamecocks have given up in a quarter all season (they allowed three in the fourth quarter against Mississippi Valley State), while five is the fifth-fewest points South Carolina has allowed in a quarter all season.
South Carolina also tied a program record for blocks in a single game with 17. Cardoso had seven, Watkins had six, Fulwiley had three and Sakima Walker had one.
Cleaning up the turnovers
South Carolina turned the ball over 23 times against No. 11 Utah, 16 times against Morgan State and 20 times against Duke.
But the Gamecocks only gave away eight possessions Saturday against the Blue Hose, the second fewest all season. (They had seven turnovers against South Dakota State.)
“We’re intentional about taking care of the basketball,” Staley said. “We were that this week. Aside from two late in the fourth quarter, I don’t think we had one in the second half. And I probably jinxed it because I said something on the bench in the fourth quarter.”
“Great effort by our players to take care of the basketball. Hopefully that can trend in the tight direction moving forward.”
When asked Friday what she thought the root of her team’s recent turnover problems could be, Staley said she noticed a lot of the throwaways came on routine passes, which did happen some Saturday.
Kitts turned the ball over a couple times when passing to Cardoso — once because Kitts overthrew her teammate, while the other happened because Cardoso didn’t see the ball before it went out of bounds.
Fatigue was one of Staley’s theories she shared Friday. The other was that the players are still getting to know each other having only played so many games with each other this season. It was encouraging to see them clean up this aspect of their game, though, with only one game remaining before their 11-day holiday break that begins next week.
Next four South Carolina women’s basketball games
- Dec. 19: at Bowling Green State, 7 p.m. (ESPN Plus)
- Dec. 30: at East Carolina, 12 p.m. (ESPN2)
- Jan. 4: at Florida, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Jan. 7: vs. Mississippi State, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
A previous version of this story had three statistical errors. This article has been updated to reflect that Seven Gamecocks scored in double figures, the Blue Hose scored three points in the third quarter, and 17 blocks in a game ties a program record.
This story was originally published December 16, 2023 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Fantastic Fulwiley: Star freshman powers No. 1 USC to dominant win over Presbyterian."
