COLUMBIA, S.C.: This 12 months’s SEC Tournament is prone to come all the way down to Dawn Staley’s daycare and Kim Mulkey’s defending champions.
No. 1 South Carolina, at 29-0 the one undefeated program in males’s or girls’s Division I, and No. 8 LSU (26-4) are the highest two seeds and powerful favorites to play for a title this week on the SEC Tournament in Greenville.
The Tigers have expertise and expertise in SEC participant of the 12 months Angel Reese and extremely productive transfers in Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow. But Staley is happy with how her her younger, untested gamers dealt with each problem this season — even when she was sure they have been too inexperienced to know what they have been doing.
The distinction between South Carolina’s undefeated common-season staff final 12 months and this 12 months is the distinction between a doctorate program “and they’re going to hate me for saying this, and daycare,” Staley stated.
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“There’s so much talking about nothing. At the beginning of the season, we’d say to be quiet, but now it’s really who they are,” Staley stated.
The event begins Wednesday with two first-spherical video games. The second spherical takes place Thursday earlier than the quarterfinals on Friday and the primary postseason video games for South Carolina and LSU.
There’s excessive-high quality expertise with the Gamecocks, too. Senior Kamilla Cardoso led South Carolina in scoring and rebounding and was named the SEC defensive participant of the 12 months. Oregon switch Te-Hina Paopao, additionally a senior who introduced this week she is going to return in 2024-25, leads the nation in 3-level capturing, making almost 50% of her lengthy-distance pictures.
Raven Johnson, Bree Hall and Saniya Feagin are all productive juniors, backups from the group led by All-Americans Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke that reached three Final Fours and gained the 2022 nationwide title.
But Staley has not been shy about letting her younger gamers push the tempo. Sophomore Ashlyn Watkins and Chloe Kitts and freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley have mixed for 34 begins and 30 factors a recreation.
LSU has gained its previous eight video games, but fell to the Gamecocks 76-70 in extra time as Staley’s staff rallied from 11 factors down.
“We’re not (regular season) champions, and that’s what you want,” Mulkey stated. “South Carolina won it. I guess the next best place to be is second place, and we’ve done that again three years in a row.”
She and the Tigers hope to complete on prime this week.
Mississippi (22-7) is available in as third seed after going 12-4, essentially the most SEC wins in program historical past. Alabama (23-8), seeded fourth, beat Louisville in pre-convention play and gained 20 video games for the third straight seasons and fifth time up to now eight years. Watch out for Vanderbilt (22-8), a 20-recreation winner for the primary time since 2013.
The as soon as dominant Lady Vols (17-11) haven’t gained an SEC Tournament title since 2014, though they did attain the finals a 12 months in the past by beating LSU within the semifinals earlier than falling to South Carolina 74-58 within the championship recreation. Tennessee coach Kellie Harper likes her staff’s struggle this season and believes they’re prepared for the postseason. “We’ve been trending upward,” she stated.
LSU’s Reese gained SEC participant of the 12 months and Staley gained her third straight SEC coach of the 12 months. Cardoso earned the league’s defensive participant of the 12 months whereas Reese’s teammate, Mikaylah Williams, was SEC freshman of the 12 months. Florida’s Leilani Correa earned sixth girl of the 12 months.
LSU with Reese and Morrow and Mississippi with Marquesha Davis and Madison Scott had two gamers every on the all-SEC first staff. South Carolina’s Cardoso, Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson, Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker and Auburn’s Honesty Scott-Grayson made up the remainder of the group.
The event returns to Greenville in 2025, the final of a 3-12 months run that started final season. When it does, the SEC will welcome Oklahoma and Texas to the postseason social gathering. The SEC has not but picked a number website for 2026. The occasion, solely about 100 miles from South Carolina’s campus, has gotten a lift from the Gamecocks giant, loyal fan base. Last 12 months’s event drew 57,801, essentially the most ever.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
