South Carolina women’s basketball secured its fifth consecutive SEC regular-season championship with an 85-48 victory over No. 17 Ole Miss on February 22, giving head coach Dawn Staley her 10th regular-season conference title and locking up the top seed in the SEC Tournament. But for the Gamecocks, clinching a share of the crown is not enough.
“We want to win it outright, it’s cool when you share it but not really,” Staley said.
The No. 3 Gamecocks, now 27-2 overall and 13-1 in SEC play, have two games remaining — a home contest against Missouri on February 26 and a road trip to face No. 18 Kentucky on March 1. Winning either game would eliminate any possibility of having to share the title.
“Hopefully we can get that done on Thursday and we’ll make sure to jump around to celebrate, because it’s an incredible feat in this conference,” Staley said.
Historic Streak
South Carolina’s five consecutive regular-season titles is the second-longest such run in SEC history. Only Tennessee has done it for longer, having won seven straight championships between 1998 and 2004. The Gamecocks currently hold a two-game cushion over both No. 4 Texas and No. 6 Vanderbilt, meaning the only scenario in which they share the title is if they drop both remaining games while Texas and Vanderbilt win theirs.
Guard Ta’Niya Latson made clear the group understands what is at stake. “We have two more games, got to finish strong,” she said. “I feel like everybody on the team knows that. We have to finish the job.”
South Carolina already secured the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament by virtue of its head-to-head wins over both Vanderbilt and Texas. The tournament runs March 4 through 8 in Greenville, South Carolina.
No Letting Up
Despite the comfortable position they find themselves in, Staley has no intention of allowing the team to ease off. She pointed to the lessons of last season, when the Gamecocks shared the title with Texas after splitting their home-and-home series and finishing with identical records. A coin flip ultimately decided the tournament’s top seed in their favor — a scenario Staley has no desire to revisit.
“I know this league, when you can control your own destiny, you should take advantage of it,” Staley said. “Last year, we’re looking right and left — we didn’t control our own destiny. We don’t want to go down that route again.”
Her message to the team was straightforward. “Play to the habits that you’ve developed over this season and it’s worked out for us 90% of the season,” she said. “Let’s not try to do anything we haven’t done. Let’s win it outright. We’re here now and I just don’t want us to take our foot off the gas.”
South Carolina has not lost a home SEC game since March 3, 2019 — a remarkable streak of 55 games.
Kentucky Looms as a Real Test
While the Missouri game at home presents a manageable opportunity to seal the outright title, the trip to Kentucky on March 1 figures to be a far more challenging environment. The Wildcats feature 6-foot-5 center Clara Strack, who averages 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, alongside 6-foot-5 senior forward Teonni Key, who missed significant time between January 1 and February 1 with injury but has since returned to bolster the Kentucky frontcourt considerably.
Add in guard Tonie Morgan, who contributes 14.4 points and 8.4 assists per game, and the Wildcats present a layered defensive challenge on both ends of the floor. Kentucky opened conference play by defeating LSU and remained competitive throughout the SEC schedule, making the road finale anything but a formality for the Gamecocks.
