South Carolina faced its second straight fourth-quarter deficit against Duke in the Birmingham 2 Regional final to win 54-50. In fact, the team entered the final stanza trailing for the third time this season, a scenario the Gamecocks hadn\u2019t won in all season. <\/p>\n
Part of what led to South Carolina being in a position to win heading into the fourth was Te-Hina Paopao\u2019s clutch mid-range shooting in the third. Paopao scored 6 of the team\u2019s 12 third-quarter points.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was really big, every time I passed it to her I said, \u2018Don\u2019t be afraid to shoot that mid-range. They
send two to you or to me, don\u2019t be afraid to shoot that mid-range,’\u201d Sania Feagin said. <\/p>\n
When the time came to start the quarter, Dawn Staley entrusted her four seniors \u2014 and Chloe Kitts \u2014 to lead the team to Tampa. <\/p>\n
Be in the know about all things Gamecocks for just $1 for 7 days\u2014lock in this special offer!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe told each other that this could be our last game,\u201d Sania Feagin said. \u201cWe told each other that if we want to make the Final Four, we have to work hard (and) we had to play the defense South Carolina plays.\u201d<\/p>\n Feagin described \u201cSouth Carolina defense\u201d as communication and staying aggressive. <\/p>\n The message heading into the quarter was to operate, Staley said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne, it was the offensive rebounds (that) were killing us, okay,\u201d Staley said. \u201cTwo, we have to operate in broken plays. Because they blew up some of our sets, and when they blow them up, we have to stay calm and we have to get (a) shot at the basket to give ourselves an opportunity to make a basket or get an offensive rebound.\u201d<\/p>\n The Gamecocks tied the game two minutes into the half at 42. From there, both teams exchanged baskets as South Carolina alternated between a tie and a four-point lead. <\/p>\n With just under four minutes to go in the fourth, the Gamecocks up 48-46, Staley pulled Johnson aside to have a heart-to-heart while Kitts shot free throws that stretched South Carolina\u2019s lead to four. <\/p>\n \u201cShe said, \u2018Bring it on home,’\u201d Johnson said. \u201cShe said, \u2018Find a way to win.\u2019 And I think that\u2019s what, this core, we do. I think all the people that talks bad about all this stuff about our team, we do we find a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n Less than two minutes later, Johnson grabbed a clutch steal. 35 seconds after that, a defensive rebound turned into a Kitts layup that became South Carolina\u2019s final made field goal. <\/p>\n Staley\u2019s confidence among her seniors is something she\u2019s instilled in them, Te-Hina Paopao said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Chloe as well, she plays like a senior,\u201d Paopao said. \u201cIt just speaks to how much she has trust in us.\u201d <\/p>\n Staley also said Kitts plays on the level of a senior.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted her there a lot sooner than this year but, you know, people\u2019s process is their process,\u201d Staley said. We try to fast-track it, but some of them just have to go through it.\u201d <\/p>\n Before the free throws, Kitts had a conversation with Paopao about getting the ball with Staley drawing a play for Kitts. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd Pao was like, \u2018Girl, what? Go get the ball,’\u201d Kitts said. \u201cSo I got the ball and I went to the line and I was just taking a deep breath, and I told myself that my coach wanted me to have the ball at the end of the game because she knew I could make my free throws, and I told myself that I\u2019m really good at basketball and I made both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Bree Hall chimed in saying she was screaming at Kitts was \u201cunshakeable.\u201d Feagin wanted her to take a deep breath. <\/p>\n Paopao said Staley\u2019s decision to go with her starters shows her trust in her seniors. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel like in March, in order to keep moving on and advancing, you got to have experience,\u201d Paopao said. \u201cAnd Feagin and Breezy have been to four Final Fours \u2026 For her to have us out there in that time, I\u2019m gonna cherish that for sure.\u201d <\/p>\n The post South Carolina seniors use experience, confidence to advance to the Final Four<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Carolina faced its second straight fourth-quarter deficit against Duke in the Birmingham 2 Regional…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Discuss South Carolina women\u2019s basketball on The Insiders Forum!<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n\n