Gamecocks 2022, part III

[Creature]

Anybody got stats from Ashlyn Watkins' Cardinal Newman victory last week over Joyce Edwards' Camden team?

No but she won MVP

 

[JDuro]

 

[JDuro]

 

[JDuro]

 

[JDuro]

 

[Tank]

A shame to hear about Raven. Hopefully she heals quickly and fully.

I think most felt that Raven of all the freshmen had the biggest responsibility - perhaps that Rivers would make the biggest ultimate impact on the team the earliest - but that Raven needed to be ready to go quickest due to the responsibility the point guard has in any offense. Henderson was oftentimes gassed late in games from playing upwards of 40 minutes - she led the team last season with 34.0 mpg - or she would have to stay in games during error-prone minutes when Coach Staley would have preferred taking her out for a moment to coach her on what NOT to do.

Raven was supposed to help provide those opportunities of rest and reflection so Henderson stayed more focused in last-game situations. Against top 5 ranked NC State, Johnson played very few minutes, but she came into the South Dakota game early, and looked to be scheduled to have a larger role before getting the fluke injury.

The replay showed Raven was tightly defending a Coyote player. No one was at fault - it was a flukish kind of injury. As the Coyote player was moving towards the baseline, and Johnson was staying in her hip pocket, Raven's right foot hits against the Coyote's left foot as Raven was stepping forward with the right foot. It impeded her foot from going forward, while both player's bodies was moving forward. This created a "pisa tower" falling down affect where Raven had no foot forward to catch her body from falling. So she tries to step forward with her left foot, but her body was already lowering down to the floor, and even as her left leg was bent at the knee, her left foot only moves forward part-way, still not fully underneath her falling body. So she keeps falling.

This created the unfortunate positioning where it was Raven's left knee that takes the full weight of her body as it falls forward and downward, and her knee - bent as it was from trying to step forward - bends at an awkward angle as she continued down to the floor. This was what caused the injury. In hindsight, it would've been far better for Raven to have just let her body fall freely, down to the floor, and she would have been spared the injury, but the entire sequence only took a second if that, and no one knew it would play out as it did.....

The question still remains as to who takes Raven's place in providing Henderson minutes of rest. I think Littleton may wind up being the #1 option - now that she seems fully healed and in good shape to laterally move and handle press defenses, she has the most experience of handling the responsibility. Russell may also be a solid candidate, but she hadn't yet shown me strong ball-handling abilities under forceful opposing defenses - she averaged less than 7 minutes last season, and had twice as many turnovers as she did assists.

Cooke is able to bring the ball up the court against press defenses, so I see her doing that a good bit, and Littleton being the de-facto #2 PG right now - in limited minutes last season, Littleton had 21 assists and only 10 turnovers, which was far and away the best of anyone on the team after Henderson: her A:TO ratio was actually better than Henny's - with Russell filling in at both guard spots and even at the 3 from time to time. We'll have to make it work.

Important thing is Raven is as healed fully as she can be for the 2022-23 season, as Henderson and Littleton will be gone, but if there's a position that Dawn Staley should be able to coach up quickly, it is at Point.....

Believe it or not, but Amihere will take the backup PG minutes for some time. 6’4” PG…..

 

[Creature]

She actually worked out Boston

 

[SCspur]

COMEBACK NIKKI!! Miss St didn’t deserve you!!

 

[visitingcock]

No but she won MVP

I found a tweet saying only that Edwards scored 18 in the matchup but nothing about Ashlyn. Another fail by the State.

 

[ConwayGmck]

Gamecocks win over Kansas State 65-44 to take the Big12/SEC Challenge match-up. South Carolina was without their starting PG Destanni Henderson, and her back-up Raven Johnson is out with an injury. SG Zia Cooke struggled from the field tonight, shooting just 1-9. So without two of their three top scorers on the season thus far and their dynamic starting back-court's offense, the Gamecocks adjust and go full front-court, and dominate.

The three top bigs of Boston, Cardoso, and Amihere combined to score 43 pts on 17-30 shooting, with 34 rebounds, 13 blocks, and 12 assists. Boston leads the way with 21 pts on 9-11 shooting in 26 total minutes, with 17 boards, 4 blocks and 3 assists. Amihere fills in admirably for Henderson as a 6-4 PG, with 11 pts on 4-8 shooting in 27 minutes, with 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks and 1 steal. Cardoso adds 11 pts of her own on 4-11 shooting, with 10 rebounds, 4 blocks and 1 steal.

The Gamecocks were up 59-29 around the 6:25 mark of the 4th, and Staley emptied her bench. They were promptly out-scored 15-6 the rest of the way, but another dominant victory for the Gamecocks (9-0), who next host top-10 Maryland Sunday in Colonial Life Arena as part of the Jimmy V Classic......

 

[GCKSFN4L]

All I can say Amihere showed up today

 

[ConwayGmck]

Boston seems to have stepped up her game recently: over the past 6 games (includes Oregon, Connecticut, and Kansas State), she's averaging 20.5 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 2.2 apg and 2.2 bpg. And has shot 53-78 (68.0%) from the field.......

 

[ConwayGmck]

 

[ConwayGmck]

 

[ConwayGmck]

 

[TC22]

I found a tweet saying only that Edwards scored 18 in the matchup but nothing about Ashlyn. Another fail by the State.

Ashlyn and Fulwiley played against each other tonight.

 

[TC22]

Amihere looked dang good at PG tonight.

 

[cacoastfan]

Saw highlights of tonights game, pretty neat to see Amihere run the point - looking forward to the 21st

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I didn't expect Boston to really be a serious candidate for NPOY (but a shoo in for 1st team AA) and after slow start had really written it down, but she's making a strong case now. (She's played extremely well all year but now the numbers are coming)

 

[Gamecockfan77]

This game could have been close if South Carolina hadn't decided to not let Kansas State score.

That was the most impressive thing about the SCar performance.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Ashlyn and Fulwiley played against each other tonight.

Fulwiley had 41 in a Keenan win. Apparently 27 in the second half.

Watkins had 19.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I'm not sure if Kansas State is not a great charge taking team or if playing point raise LA's awareness, but was very impressed with how little trouble she troubled into. That worked a lot better than I was guessing.

 

[triaddukefan]

Those of you who have android phones and use Google photos.. U know how they alert you and show you pics you took at an event that took place exactly one year ago.. Or four years ago.. and so on?

Well this morning.. Grabbed my phone and booom... Google photos.. Started showing me pics of an event I attended December 4th 2016.... Exactly five years ago today. Definitely brought back good feelings and warmed my heart. It also posted the location where the pics were taken. Those pics were taken at... Cameron Indoor Stadium.. Between 2pm and 3:48pm. Figured this was the right thread ..

 

[visitingcock]

Those of you who have android phones and use Google photos.. U know how they alert you and show you pics you took at an event that took place exactly one year ago.. Or four years ago.. and so on?

Well this morning.. Grabbed my phone and booom... Google photos.. Started showing me pics of an event I attended December 4th 2016.... Exactly five years ago today. Definitely brought back good feelings and warmed my heart. It also posted the location where the pics were taken. Those pics were taken at... Cameron Indoor Stadium.. Between 2pm and 3:48pm. Figured this was the right thread ..

This warms my heart:

Women's Basketball vs Duke on 12/19/2019 - Box Score - University of South Carolina Athletics

 

[JDuro]

Those of you who have android phones and use Google photos.. U know how they alert you and show you pics you took at an event that took place exactly one year ago.. Or four years ago.. and so on?

Well this morning.. Grabbed my phone and booom... Google photos.. Started showing me pics of an event I attended December 4th 2016.... Exactly five years ago today. Definitely brought back good feelings and warmed my heart. It also posted the location where the pics were taken. Those pics were taken at... Cameron Indoor Stadium.. Between 2pm and 3:48pm. Figured this was the right thread ..

That season ended quite nicely so it’s all good. All part of a journey to the national championship.