South Carolina women’s basketball players will not get to go home for the holidays, but they probably are not complaining. The Gamecocks will play three games in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, beginning Thanksgiving Day.
Going into the season, the Gamecocks knew they would need their newcomers to live up to their potential if they would be successful early in the season. So far, the young players have played well. Freshman forward Kelsey Bone was named SEC Freshman of the week, and is averaging a double-double with a team high 21.3 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game. Both averages rank third in the SEC. Transfer guard Valerie Nainima is second on the team with 19.7 points per game, and has show a knack for making clutch shots.
Sophomores Charenee Stephens and La’Keisha Sutton have built on solid freshmen campaigns to provide experience alongside Bone and Nainima. Stephens is also averaging a double-double, with 13.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. She scored a career-high 17 points against Penn State, and provides defense and muscle while Bone struggles to bring her defense up to the level of her offense. Sutton, too, has been a defense stopper, drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top perimeter player. She also averages 12.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
South Carolina participated in a regular-season tournament last Thanksgiving also, winning the Cancun Thanksgiving Classic with wins over Ohio and UNC Wilmington. The field in the Paradise Jam is notably stronger, which head coach Dawn Staley believes will help her young team to grow and gel, even if they do not win each game.
“It’s going to help us regardless,” Staley said. “Anytime you play against three teams of that caliber, Final Four teams, NCAA teams, it can’t do anything but help. Going into the tournament, we’re probably the lowest seeded team in it. Hopefully people will take us a little lightly and maybe we’ll get the first one and then worry about the next two.”
Oklahoma The Sooners (2-1) are coming off a Final Four appearance last season and are ranked 20th by the AP and 17th by ESPN polls. The Sooners are led by preseason Wooden Award candidate Danielle Robinson. The junior point guard is averaging 14.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
Oklahoma also has a senior with a familiar name: center Abi Olajuwon. She is the daughter of former NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon, and leads Oklahoma in scoring with 16.3 points per game on 61.1 percent shooting along with 7.3 rebounds. Olajuwon will likely be matched up with South Carolina’s Bone.
The Gamecocks and Sooners have met twice before. The two teams played a home and home series beginning in 2006 in Columbia. The Sooners won both games, 78-51, and then 96-63. Staley has never coached against the Sooners.
Notre Dame The Fighting Irish (3-0) are the elite of the Paradise Jam field, ranked 5th by the AP and 6th by ESPN. Irish head coach Muffet McGraw will be looking for her 500th career coaching victory against San Diego State on Thanksgiving.
Notre Dame is a perimeter oriented team led by three senior guards. Point guard Melissa Lechlitner averaged 10.6 points per game last season, and 4 assists per game this year for Notre Dame. Returning All-Big East guards Lindsay Schrader and Ashley Barlow handle the scoring load. Schrader averages 9.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, while Barlow averages 13.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
The Gamecocks and Irish have played each other twice, with the Gamecocks winning both meetings. The Gamecocks won 124-48 in South Bend in 1981, and again 76-54 in Columbia in 1982. Staley faced the Irish once as coach of the Temple Owls, losing 84-61.
San Diego State The Gamecocks finish the Paradise Jam against the Aztecs (3-0), ranked 23rd in the AP and 24th in the ESPN polls. The Aztecs entered the top 25 for the first time since 1995 this week. They are the defending Mountain West Conference champions, and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.
Junior center Paris Johnson leads San Diego State’s attack with 14.3 points, 3.7 blocks, and 7.0 rebounds per game. She is supported by senior guard Jene Morris, who adds 13.0 points and 4.0 steals per game.
The Gamecocks and Aztecs have never met before.
All three games will tip at 1 pm. South Carolina will play Oklahoma Thursday, Notre Dame Friday, and San Diego State Saturday. Radio coverage can be heard on WISW 1320 and on GamecocksOnline.com. Video is available through FOX College Sports Broadband Network. South Carolina returns home on Wednesday, December 2, for an 11 am game against High Point.
