By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The last time LSU and South Carolina played a women’s basketball game, it turned into a WCW steel cage match at the end of last March’s SEC tournament championship contest won 79-72 by the then-No. 1 and eventual national champion Gamecocks.
A bench-clearing altercation with 2:08 left to play and South Carolina leading 73-66 resulted in Gamecocks’ center Kamilla Cardoso being ejected for fighting and the ejection of all bench players for both teams.
Both squads each finished the game with five available players.
Delayed by snowy weather that derailed LSU’s original travel plans, the No. 5 unbeaten Tigers (20-0, 5-0 SEC) and the No. 2 once-beaten Gamecocks (18-1, 6-0 SEC) meet here today at 4 p.m. CT on ESPN in a game that was scheduled for Thursday.
The usual sellout crowd will be on hand to watch LSU and South Carolina pick up where they left off last March in a fight that started when South Carolina’s Bree Hall and Ashlyn Watkins taunted LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson after her intentional foul of then-Gamecocks freshman Milaysia Fulwiley.
Johnson, walking to her bench, shoved aside Watkins when she ran up to her face running her mouth. The 6-7 Cardoso brushed past an official and violently shoved the 5-10 Johnson to the floor, lighting the fuse.
As Johnson immediately got back on her feet, her older brother, Trayon Lenorris Milton, came out of the stands, jumping over the scorer’s table. A policeman quickly grabbed him. Milton was later charged with a count of disorderly conduct, and assault and battery in the third degree.
Then, for the next 20 minutes, the officiating crew of Pulani Spurlock-Welsh, Angelica Suffren, and Kevin Pethtel viewed a courtside video monitor to sort through the damage and assess fouls.
Both head coaches – LSU’s Kim Mulkey and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley – weren’t happy the officials let the game get out of hand.
“Do you realize there was only one foul called on each team with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter?” Mulkey said after the game. “Are you kidding me? That might have created some of that.
“Not the way we play, we gonna foul your ass. Not the way they play, they’re going to foul your ass. But you only blew that whistle one time? Think about that now.”
Staley said after practice Thursday she expects the officiating crew to be on red alert this time.
“Obviously, we brought it to their (the SEC office) attention,” Staley said. “We feel like the officiating is going to be on it. We’re not going to be able to do some of the things that we did in that game (last March). They’re not going to be able to do some things that they did, So for us, it’s about adjusting to how the officiating will be. It’s probably going to be tight.
“I don’t think our teams in that place or in that head space (to start a fight).”
The Tigers, the last unbeaten team remaining in Division 1 besides No. 1 ranked UCLA, have played a considerably less challenging schedule than the Gamecocks and have had more close calls.
LSU is 2-0 against ranked teams this season, won two games on buzzer-beating drives by reserve guard Kailyn Gilbert and also beat Stanford in overtime after Mikaylah Williams’ game-tying mid-range jumper pushed the contest into extra minutes for the Tigers.
South Carolina is 7-1 vs. ranked teams. Its only loss was on Nov. 24 when the then-No. 1 lost at then-No. 5 UCLA 77-62.
Since then, the Gamecocks have won 13 straight games with an average victory margin of 30.7 points.
Though South Carolina returns four starters from last season, the Gamecocks’ strength is their depth. Nine players average 19 or more minutes and 5.4 points or more per game.
LSU’s Aneesah Morrow (18.7 points, SEC-leading 14.2 rebounds), Johnson (20 ppg), Mikaylah Williams (16.5 ppg) and Gilbert (11.2) account for 73.3 percent of the Tigers’ No. 3 nationally ranked scoring average (90.6 points per game).
South Carolina’s balance is such that it doesn’t have a single player ranked among the league’s top 20 scorers.
LSU and the Gamecocks are ranked No. 6 and No. 7 nationally in scoring margin.
While the Tigers are still having moments defensively in which they allow straight-line drive baskets – “We got to learn to trust each other. . .sometimes we leave each other on an island,” Mulkey said – South Carolina has tightened its defensive belt since SEC play began.
In conference games, the Gamecocks are first in scoring defense (56.17 ppg allowed), field goal percentage defense (33.3) and blocked shots (6.33 pg).
“It’s our willingness to get stops, to disrupt and not give teams what they want to do best,” Staley said. “We had incredible focus on how we’re guarding. We’ll focus on the emphasis. These (opposing) teams have been good in transition. We’ve done a really good job at forcing them to play in the halfcourt.”
No matter what happens today, both teams have to make a quick turnaround. LSU is home vs. Texas A&M with a 3 p.m. CT tipoff on Sunday while South Carolina plays at Tennessee Monday at 6 p.m. CT.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com