DALLAS — Attack mode suits the South Carolina women’s basketball team.
Down to one aircraft carrier following the injury to senior center Alaina Coates, the Gamecocks had to find a new way to make the most of athletic group of players surrounding Southeastern Conference Player of the Year A’ja Wilson.
The formula Sunday involved a relentless assault on the rim that Mississippi State couldn’t stop.
Wilson had a game-high 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had four blocked shots, and Allisha Gray added 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead South Carolina to a 67-55 victory in the NCAA tournament championship game before a sell-out crowd of 19,229 at American Airlines Center.
“That is just our main goal of the season: attack, points in the paint, and paint dominance,” Wilson said. “I think we really executed that and we got the win.”
Wilson was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Gray joined her on the all-tournament team with Mississippi State’s Victoria Vivians and Morgan William and Connecticut’s Gabby Williams.
The victory helped South Carolina (33-4) earn its first national championship in its first appearance in the game. MSU (34-5) also was making its first appearance in the national title game.
MSU coach Vic Schaefer credited South Carolina, which earned its third victory this season against his team. The Gamecocks have won 11-straight meetings in the series.
On Sunday, South Carolina earned its biggest margin of victory in the three games against MSU thanks to a 42-20 edge in points in the paint. They did it without the 6-foot-4 Coates, who missed the last seven games of the season after re-injuring her ankle against Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference tournament.
The Gamecocks had a smaller edge in second-chance points — 13-6 — but their aggressiveness put the Bulldogs back on their heels and set the tone for most of the game.
“I thought they were really, really aggressive, did a really nice job attacking us,” Schaefer said. “We had a hard time with them off the bounce.
“We had some foul trouble early with Bre(anna Richardson) and Dom(inique Dillingham), tried to weather that a little bit. But I don’t think it would have mattered. I think South Carolina really played extremely well. Today just wasn’t our best day.”
South Carolina’s attacking mind-set came through on defense, too, as it held MSU to 34.5-percent shooting from the field (19-for-55). The percentage was the lowest of the three meetings against the Gamecocks this season.
“It is tough to guard Mississippi State,” South Carolina junior guard Kaela Davis said. “They run off a ton of screens, and Victoria Vivians, they are constantly keeping her moving and active. I think it was at halftime when coach switched me off her and said, ‘Hey, we need something from you offensively, so we’re going to switch you off her.'”
Vivians and Dillingham were MSU’s only players in double figures. Junior point guard Morgan William, who scored a career-high 41 points against Baylor in the Elite Eight and hit the game-winning shot in a 66-64 overtime victory against four-time reigning national champion UConn, had eight points and four assists in 23 minutes. She didn’t play down the stretch as Schaefer went with Holmes.
“They pretty much guarded me hard full court,” William said. “They made somebody else bring it up court because I didn’t sometimes. I feel they got us out of whack because I wasn’t runnin’ the show like I was supposed to.”
With shutting down William and containing Vivians addressed, the Gamecocks continued to attack until the confetti rained down on the court. The performance helped coach Dawn Staley, the first Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four to coach in the title game, add a national championship to her Olympic gold medal exploits.
“Our biggest thing as to attack,” Davis said. “I don’t think it had anything to do with them being fatigued or not. … We had to keep pushing. I think the way we attacked the rim and rebounded and defended tonight got us the win.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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