Cardoso is just a bad fit for these types of games. She is tremendously talented, but is so languid in how she plays the game: the steal from her late in the game, as she held the ball navel-high and stood there looking around, is a great example of what I'm saying. She plays a bit too non-sense of urgency. I don't want to call her slow or lazy or unaware, but opponents who are quick and aggressive can take advantage of her. Brink was easily starting on the perimeter, and then quick-sprinting past Cardoso for easy layups at the basket early in the game, because Brink was pretty fast at doing that, and Kamilla was too slow to respond. She can get away with doing that with smaller players, because she makes up for the distance with her great length. But Brink also has that length. Amihere was a bit like that her first 1-2 years at USC.
Olivia made some sense to me, and was a risky but "riverboat gambler" move for Staley. Cooke was struggling, and the post play was being stifled. South Carolina needed some outside scoring to crack open the stiff Cardinal defense in the paint, and Olivia came through with a big 3-pt shot in the 1st half.
A huge telling stat for the last 3 games played by both teams:
In the 2021 NCAAT Final Four, Stanford edged South Carolina by 1 point. They forced the Gamecocks into 11 turnovers - 8 from Cooke and Henderson. Not a whole lot, and Stanford had 12 of their own, but they edged South Carolina in points off of those TOs 11-10. One point, in a one-point win.
In last season's Gamecock win over the Cardinal, pretty much the same teams met again, this time in the regular season in Colonial Life Arena in Columbia. South Carolina forced Stanford into committing 20 turnovers compared to committing just 7 themselves, and out-scored Stanford 26-6 off of those turnovers.
In today's game at Stanford, the Gamecocks again forced the Cardinal into committing 22 turnovers to just 11 for themselves, and out-scored the Cardinal 18-9 off of those TOs.....