Lady Gamecocks Take Down Number Five Kentucky

While the men's basketball team struggles to find a way to close games, Dawn Staley's Lady Gamecocks are having another stellar year. They earned their biggest win of the season tonight, outlasting Kentucky in a 55-50 defensive battle. Kentucky is currently ranked fifth in the nation, which makes this the highest-ranked team the Lady Gamecocks have beaten since 1998. This was another step forward for a program that Staley has primed to join the sport's upper echelon in the coming years.

Looking ahead, the Gamecocks are 17-3 with two games remaining against currently ranked teams, including a trip to Lexington for a rematch with UK. It's thus not inconceivable that Carolina will finish 24-5 in the regular season if not better, easily beating the 21-8 record it carried into the SEC Tournament last year. Granting a good showing in the SECT, this should net us a solid seeding in the NCAA Tournament, giving us a good shot to beat last year's Sweet 16 finish. ESPN WBB expert Charlie Creme currently has us as a four seed (we were a five seed last year) in his bracketology.