It was personal, it was emphatic and it was extremely lopsided.
Joyce Edwards hit on a runner with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter to give No. 4 South Carolina (23-3) its first lead of the afternoon in a pivotal top 10 non-conference matchup in mid-February.
That was South Carolina’s only lead of the game, as the Huskies (24-3) responded with nine straight to build an 18-11 lead just three minutes later.
Connecticut ran rampant on the boards and hit on over 45% of its three pointers in a season-defining victory in Columbia on Sunday afternoon, defeating South Carolina for the first time in four years 87-58.
The 29-point victory snapped the Gamecocks’ 71-game home win streak and UConn’s 11-year drought of winning on the road against an AP Top 5 team (Louisville 2014).
Perhaps paralyzed in trying to find the mismatches down low in the early going, the Gamecocks fell victim to the run-and-gun, up-tempo approach of the Huskies.
Connecticut hit on transition three-pointers early from the likes of Ashlynn Shade and Paige Bueckers to build its lead to seven after the first period, owning a 21-14 advantage at the break. The seven-point margin was the largest home deficit after one quarter since 2021 for the Gamecocks.
Jana El Alfy was stout in the paint defensively for UConn in the first period, forcing Chloe Kitts to lose the ball out of bounds and grabbing a critical board to stymie the Gamecock momentum after tying the game at nine.
Head coach Geno Auriemma stressed the importance of El Alfy’s paint presence to the media on Friday after declaring both Ice Brady (upper body) and Morgan Cheli (lower body) out due to injury.
El Alfy finished with eight points on 60% shooting, grabbing six rebounds (two offensive) and one steal in a hardy effort from the paint.
Bueckers’ two free throws were answered by Kitts down low and again by Edwards on the next possession. The Gamecocks scored just three points the rest of the quarter (Paopao three-pointer) as UConn ended the period on a 12-3 run.
Sarah Strong, Shade, Azzi Fudd and Bueckers piled on a quick ten points to build the lead to 17 three minutes into the second period. The 10-0 spurt was a part of a 20-3 run by the Huskies over 6:56 that opened up the game offensively.
The Huskies shot a sharp 45.7% from the field and 50% from three in the first half, racking up 23 rebounds and 12 assists en route to taking a 22-point lead into the break.
Connecticut out-shot South Carolina by eight percent, had a +10 advantage on the glass and +6 margin in turnovers (+11 in PfTO) at the half — a vast difference from the first halves of losses at Notre Dame, vs. USC and at Tennessee.
How did the Huskies find offensive success early? They stuck to their identity and got the ball into the hands of Bueckers, Fudd and Strong — all of whom struggled to find looks early in the three losses.
Oh, and winning on the boards every quarter goes a long way in producing second chance points, which the Huskies dominated.
The 22-point halftime deficit was the largest the Gamecocks had faced in Columbia since Dec. 2018 against Baylor.
Fudd got going early in the third, knocking down a jumper to stretch the lead to 24 at the 9:15 mark. Then again under basket with a reversing layup, and again from three off a fast break opportunity.
The sharpshooting guard hit on seven of nine third quarter field goals, including four three-pointers, wrapping up an 18-point period which saw Fudd eclipse her 17-point third quarter against St. John’s last Wednesday.
The Husky lead reached heights of 29 points in the third, aided by Fudd scoring 18 of the team’s 25, as Connecticut took a 70-44 lead into the final quarter.
Fudd struck again from deep in the fourth, knocking down a step-back triple from the top of the key to restore the lead to 28. Strong reached a double-double status, recording 16 points, 13 rebounds and four assists in a physical effort against Edwards on the post.
The 29-point margin falls one basket short of Stanford’s 30-point defeat of South Carolina in 2008 as the largest home defeat under Dawn Staley, per Stathead, and hands USC its first home loss since Dec. 2020 versus NC State.