OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Pushed to the brink, Zia Cooke and South Carolina finally exerted control once the game entered overtime.
Cooke scored five of his 24 points in overtime to help the No. 1 Gamecocks stay undefeated with a 64-57 win over Mississippi on Sunday.
Defending national champion Gamecocks (27-0, 14-0 Southeastern Conference) had one of their biggest scares of the season before winning their 33rd straight game. The Rebels (20-7, 9-5) have never trailed by more than six points in regulation and flirted with their first victory against a No. 1 team in 46 years.
“They were locked in,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “They played in their zone and were committed to it, and we didn’t handle it well until we had to. So it was a good game plan.
She called the Rebels “an NCAA tournament team,” and they certainly looked up to the task.
Cooke had six rebounds and four assists to help offset a 7-of-18 shooting performance. Aliyah Boston added 13 points and 11 rebounds on 4-of-14 shooting and went scoreless in the first quarter.
The deep Gamecocks didn’t get their usual supply of scoring assists for the two stars, though Kamilla Cardoso had eight points and 11 rebounds.
Angel Baker led Ole Miss with 17 points. Snudda Collins added 11 while Marquesha Davis had nine points and seven rebounds. Rita Igbokwe blocked six shots.
Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin started his post-match press conference with a big sigh.
“Hard. Man, today was an incredibly emotional game for me, our players, everyone,” she said. “I just grew up looking up to Dawn Staley. I have so much respect for her as a person. She became my mentor.
“To be able to take them into overtime and have an opportunity to win after being our third game of the week was incredible.”
It was only the third single-digit margin and second overtime game for the defending national champions, who had won by an average of 33.5 points. The top two faced No. 3 Stanford (76-71 in overtime) and No. 6 UConn (81-77). South Carolina dominated overtime, 9-2.
Cooke’s second field goal in overtime tied South Carolina’s biggest lead to that point, 63-57, with 1:33 remaining. The teams traded turnovers but Ole Miss missed three shots trying to stay alive, including two consecutive 3-point tries from Baker after offensive rebounds.
Cooke, who had scored South Carolina’s first eight points of the game, then had one of two foul shots.
Ole Miss had recovered from a six-point deficit in the final 7 minutes to force overtime.
Baker had a steal and a layup, then gave Ole Miss their first lead since opening minutes with a jumper to move up 55-54 with 1:20 to go. Then Igbokwe blocked two Boston shots to hold the advantage.
With 30 seconds left, Boston made 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game. Ole Miss returned it without a shot, and Boston couldn’t make one at the buzzer as South Carolina finished regulation on a 1-of-11 fall.
Overtime was another story.
“I thought we were just calculating where we wanted the ball to go and our posts (players) went through,” Staley said.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: Made just 23 of 61 shots (37.7%) but outshot the Rebels 49-36. The best defense in the country put the clamps in place in overtime.
Ole Miss: Lost 17 straight games against South Carolina. … Had six players with two points in the first quarter, trailing 16-12. … The 1977 team defeated eventual national champion and No. 1 Delta State 73-72 at Oxford.
LOOK BACK
Ole Miss has come a long way since McPhee-McCuin remembers about 500 fans (officially, 1,225) in attendance the first time she hosted Staley’s Gamecocks. It was an 87-32 Gamecocks win, but the score was 32-2 at halftime.
“Nobody was in the clubhouse and the only reason I remember is that I was embarrassed because I looked up to Dawn,” the Rebels coach said. “And I know she built something and I’m trying to build something.
“And today to hear from the fans, they were so engaged and they almost took us to the ‘W’.”
FOLLOWING
South Carolina visits Tennessee Thursday night.
Ole Miss hosts Missouri on Thursday night.
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AP Women’s College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll
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