GAMEDAY Womens Basketball
South Carolina 88, Liberty 39
(AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Zia Cooke scored a season-high 20 points and No. 1 South Carolina, boosted by coach Dawn Staley's early substitutions, beat Liberty 88-39.
The Gamecocks (9-0) returned from a week-long break for exams.
Not liking what she saw from her starting five, Staley brought in five reserves in the first quarter. That broke the malaise as the Gamecocks immediately padded their margin with an 11-4 run on the way to a 42-22 halftime lead.
The starting lineup returned in the second half and kept up the pressure. The Flames were held to six points in the third quarter as the Gamecocks' lead increased to 35.
Reserve forward Sania Feagin added a career-high 14 points for the Gamecocks.
Mya Berkman led Liberty (3-5) with 17 points.
BIG PICTURE
Liberty: The Flames are seeing how tough they are with a rough stretch of playing eight of nine games away from home. Liberty's last home game was Nov. 17 and the only one between then and Jan. 5 comes Thursday night against NCAA Division II Limestone.
South Carolina: After a lengthy exam break, the Gamecocks wanted to get back in rhythm. The first-quarter line change of substitutions sent a message to the starters and the Gamecocks were able to again show off their incredibly deep bench.
December 11, 2022
| Liberty | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| J. Bailey | F | 22 | 5-14 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| M. Berkman | C | 26 | 6-10 | 5-7 | 0-0 | 7-10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 17 |
| K. Williams | G | 31 | 2-6 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| D. Brown | G | 27 | 0-3 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| E. Hess | G | 22 | 2-9 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| J. Hodges | 16 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| B. Smuda | 16 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| A. Markova | 15 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
| P. Steenbergen | 15 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| A. Clark | 5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| B. Busby | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| E. Howard | 1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| H. LeMelle | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| C. Shiery | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| N. Stallings | 1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 15-55 (.273) |
9-12 (.750) |
0-12 (.000) |
13-31 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 19 | 39 | |
| South Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| A. Boston | F | 22 | 5-9 | 3-4 | 0-1 | 2-6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| V. Saxton | F | 15 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Z. Cooke | G | 24 | 7-12 | 3-4 | 3-7 | 0-1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| B. Beal | G | 23 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1-4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| K. Fletcher | G | 14 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| T. Cooper | 18 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| R. Johnson | 16 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| A. Watkins | 15 | 3-5 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| L. Amihere | 13 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| S. Feagin | 13 | 6-9 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 3-7 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 | |
| B. Hall | 13 | 2-5 | 3-4 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| K. Cardoso | 11 | 1-5 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 4-9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| O. Thompson | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 34-68 (.500) |
14-24 (.583) |
6-13 (.462) |
21-47 | 17 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 88 | |
Officials: Tiffany Bird, Fatou Cissoko-Stephens, Kristen Bell