SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Even after another dominant offensive effort, South Carolina's players feel that their best is yet to come.
Ta’Niya Latson scored 28 points and Raven Johnson added 18 to help the top-seeded Gamecocks beat No. 4 seed Oklahoma 94-68 on Saturday and advance to the Elite Eight of the women's NCAA Tournament.
“We have a lot of room to grow, we're growing at the right time,” Johnson said. “When everyone is clicking the ceiling is high
for us.”
Coach Dawn Staley also sees areas that her team can grow despite winning its first three March Madness games by an average of 45 points.
“I like for us to be a little bit better at putting the ball in the paint and scoring,” she said. “Used to having a dominant post who can alleviate some of the pressures in the half court."
South Carolina will face the winner of the TCU-Virginia game on Monday night for the chance to go to the Final Four in Phoenix.
The Gamecocks have advanced to six of the past eight Final Fours and won three national championships during that stretch. Oklahoma was looking for its first trip to a regional final since the 2009-10 season, which was the Sooners' last time in the Final Four.
The Gamecocks (34-3) jumped out to a strong start behind Latson, who was playing in her first Sweet 16. The senior guard played the first three years of her career at Florida State before coming to South Carolina this season. She scored eight of the team's first 10 points as the Gamecocks went up 10-0.
“I was feeling really good tonight, woke up on the right side of the bed,” Latson said. “My teammates and coaches believed in me. Go out there with confidence, that was the game plan.”
Johnson scored nine points as the Gamecocks were up 23-13 after the first quarter.
Oklahoma (26-8) turned the ball over on three of its first four possessions in the second quarter and South Carolina took advantage. Latson's four-point play with 46 seconds left in the half made it 47-28. The Sooners got a stop on the next possession, but Sahara Williams missed a wide-open layup just before the buzzer.
“We had lots of careless turnovers in the first half we could have avoided,” said Raegan Beers, who had 14 points. “We did that to ourselves. That’s how they got their first punch. Defensively we could have adjusted a lot of things from our standpoint.”
Latson finished the first half with 18 points and Johnson had 16. Second-team AP All-American Joyce Edwards was scoreless in the opening 20 minutes. It didn't matter, because the Gamecocks had enough offense from Latson and Johnson.
South Carolina got Edwards more involved in the second half. She scored the team's first four points in the third quarter as the Gamecocks gave Oklahoma no shot at a comeback. Edwards finished with eight points and nine rebounds.
Aaliyah Chavez scored 21 points and Payton Verhulst added 12 for the Sooners.
The teams met earlier this season. Oklahoma handed South Carolina its lone regular-season Southeastern Conference loss, 94-82 in overtime.
The Gamecocks don't have too much history with either TCU or Virginia, but Staley starred for the Cavaliers as a player and led them to three Final Fours. South Carolina beat Virginia in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks faced TCU two years ago in the regular season and routed the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, Texas.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
