South Carolina Women's Basketball: Lady Gamecocks Bounce Back against Alabama

One game after losing their first SEC contest at Texas A&M, the South Carolina women's basketball team got back to its winning ways by taking down the Alabama Crimson Tide, 77-51. Carolina enjoyed playing in front of a reported crowd of 7740. Elem Ibiam led Carolina with 18 points.

This game wasn't close, as Dawn Staley's team had Alabama, a struggling program with a new coach, severely overmatched. Carolina was significantly taller and stronger than the Tide, and it showed with each of Carolina's main three front-court players scoring in double figures, with Aleighsa Welch scoring 12 and Alaina Coates 10 in addition to Ibiam's 18. Carolina rode their play to a 43-26 halftime lead and cruised in the second half. The Lady Gamecocks were able to shoot over 51% for the context given the ease with which they were able to find ways to score easy baskets in the interior.

Much as the football team celebrated its accomplishments at halftime of yesterday's men's game against Ole Miss, there were some special activities planned for the ladies game today. First of all, a program associated with Pat Summit that's intended to raise support for research on Alzheimer's Disease was kicked off. Second of all, Coach Staley was honored for her recent induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

The Gamecocks will get a tougher test in their next game, when they head to Nasvhille to take on a decent Vandy team.