South Carolina moved on to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament with a 76-65 victory of Georgia Tech on Sunday afternoon behind a balanced scoring effort. South Carolina's leading scorer was Zia Cooke with 17 points, Laeticia Amihere had 15 points, Victoria Saxton had 12 points and Aliyah Boston and Destanni Henderson both had 9 points in the Sweet 16 victory.
After a close 1st quarter, South Carolina entered the second quarter up 19-16 and extended their margin to 26-16, quickly by scoring the quarters first 7 points in less than a minute and half. Georgia Tech responded by going on a 10-4 run and made the score 30-26 with four minutes left in the half. The difference between the teams at the end of the first half was the same as South Carolina took a 39-35 lead into the halftime locker room.
Ms. Boston was held scoreless in the first half, missing her first four shots and she got in foul trouble as she picked up her second foul with 3:15 left forcing her to the bench for the remainder of the half. The second half started much better for her as she scored on the first three possessions of the second half and had 7 of her 9 points in the game during the first two minutes into the third quarter. This helped South Carolina open up a 46-37 lead.
Those baskets were part of a 14-4 run that gave South Carolina a 53-41 lead with just over 5 minutes left in the third quarter. Georgia Tech scored the next four points but South Carolina then went on a 9-0 run to build a 62-45 with 2:15 left in the third quarter. Georgia Tech scored the last 5 points of the quarter and South Carolina lead by 12 heading into the fourth.
South Carolina will play the winner Texas on Tuesday night on ESPN . When the time is announced this story will be updated.
Texas entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed and stunned No. 2 seed Maryland 64-61 to earn their spot in the Elite Eight.
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