No. 17 Indiana rallies past No. 5 South Carolina 71-57
ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — Brenna Wise and Ali Patberg scored 16 points each, and No. 17 Indiana rallied to beat No. 5 South Carolina 71-57 Thursday night in the Paradise Jam tournament.
Aleksa Gulbe and Grace Berger added 10 points apiece for the Hoosiers (5-0), who overcame a four-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Mikiah Herbert Harrigan scored 13 points and freshmen Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke had 10 points each for South Carolina (6-1), which came back from seven down in the second half before blowing its own lead.
“We knew they were going to come out and make a run,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “They’re too good of a team and (Gamecocks coach Dawn) Staley is too good of a coach that we were going to get their best coming out in the second half.”
With Indiana ahead 38-31 at the half, the Gamecocks held the Hoosiers to 2-of-12 shooting in the third quarter, regaining the lead on Herbert Harrigan’s jumper with 1:37 left and pulling ahead 51-47 at the end of the period.
With the Gamecocks in foul trouble, Indiana opened the fourth with an 8-3 run, with Jaelynn Penn’s jumper with 5:52 left putting the Hoosiers up 55-54. Indiana closed out the quarter with a 16-3 run.
South Carolina was called for 23 fouls, with two players fouling out — Boston, who only played 14 minutes before fouling out late in the fourth quarter; and guard Tyasha Harris. That led to Indiana (which was called for 18 fouls) going 12 of 19 on free throws, while the Gamecocks were 7 of 15.
“We got ourselves in some foul trouble and were not able to play who we needed to play, who’s played for us all season long,” Staley said. “We weren’t able to get our normal substitution rotations in, and we had people to play people who haven’t played very much.”
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: The loss will certainly hurt the Gamecocks when the new AP Top 25 comes out next week; how much they fall depends on how they fare against No. 2 Baylor on Saturday.
Indiana: The Hoosiers can make a big jump in the AP Top 25 and extend their stay in the national rankings for a school-record fifth straight week.
STAT LINES
Two bad shooting quarters cost South Carolina — a 4-of-17 effort in the second quarter, allowing Indiana to take a 38-31 halftime lead; and a 2-of-13 effort in the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks finished at 36.9% from the field (24 of 65) and made only 2 of 19 3-pointers. Indiana, despite its horrid third quarter, made 26 of 52 shots (50%) and 7 of 15 3-pointers.
UP NEXT
South Carolina plays Washington State on Friday at the Paradise Jam.
Indiana faces No. 2 Baylor on Friday at the Paradise Jam.
