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Alaina Coates and the South Carolina Gamecocks were up to their old tricks in Lexington on Thursday night. The senior enjoyed a terrific 20-point, 18-rebound performance as the Gamecocks took care of the Kentucky Wildcats by a final score of 75-63.
Coates, who made eight of her nine shots on the night, wasn’t the only Gamecock to produce this evening. A’ja Wilson added 20 points of her own on 8-14 shooting from the floor and 4-5 shooting from the foul line, nearly missing a double-double herself with nine rebounds. Allisha Gray pitched in 11 with a pair of threes to join Coates and Wilson in the double digit club.
The Gamecocks withstood a 23-point performance by Makayla Epps as she was 8-22 from the field to lead Kentucky. But the Wildcats were held to just 34% shooting and were out-rebounded 40-29 as they faced a 42-23 deficit at halftime. Carolina opened that up to a 57-30 margin with 2:51 remaining in the third, withstanding a late Kentucky run to maintain a comfortable lead the rest of the way.
South Carolina travels to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas on Super Bowl Sunday. Tipoff for that one is 2pm on ESPN2.