South Carolina women’s basketball: MiLaysia Fulwiley sparks the Gamecocks’ win over Maryland

Behind a scintillating game from MiLaysia Fulwiley, South Carolina overcame first-half foul problems for a come-from-behind 71-67 win over Maryland.

Maryland had nobody who could stay in front of Fulwiley. Wearing her player edition butter-themed Under Armour shoes, Fulwiley scored 23 points to go with five rebounds and three assists, setting a new NCAA tournament career-high.

South Carolina seemed hesitant for much of the first three quarters. Even when the Gamecocks got the ball in the paint, nobody seemed to want to take the shot. They often ended up settling for bad looks at the end of the shot clock.

“We had no flow from an offensive standpoint,” Dawn Staley said. “It’s not like we weren’t getting good shots. I thought we were actually getting good shots, I thought we were giving up good shots. It was just stagnant.

So Staley turned to Fulwiley, and gave her one job: get to the basket and take over.

“I wouldn’t say takeover,” Fuwliley said. “I think I would say I honestly just went out there and tried to help my team get closer to our next goal, the Elite Eight and I think I did that well.”

There were reverse layups, stutter steps, spin moves, and no-look passes that brought the partisan Gamecock crowd to its feet and gave South Carolina momentum when it was hard to find.

South Carolina Gamecocks forward Chloe Kitts (21) shoots over Maryland Terrapins forward Christina Dalce (15) during the first half of a Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament basketball game at Legacy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

“I expect it, actually I really do,” Staley said. “I expect her to do the things that she was doing out there for us. I don’t know how it’s going to look, because it looks a lot different than most, because she’s got a lot of gall to try some of the stuff she does, but it’s part of who she is. It’s hard to guard and it’s hard to double because she has really good court vision and she’s got really good ability to make layups in traffic, passes in traffic.

Chloe Kitts scored the first 10 points for the Gamecocks and was well on her way to a double-double in the first quarter. She all but disappeared for about 25 minutes. Then Raven Johnson blocked a layup by Kaylene Smikle and found Kitts running the court for a transition layup.

“I knew she was a driver so I had to help,” Johnson said. “I used my long arms and I blocked the shot.”

“I knew we needed another point so I did the euro (step) because I was missing my shots,” Kitts said. “ The euro moved the defender and I was able to finish.

The layup put South Carolina up 59-58. Maryland would retake the lead on a layup by Saylor Poffenbarger, but the Terrapins couldn’t keep Fuwiley out of the lane, and she put South Carolina back in front.

“Nobody in the country has anyone to be able to match that kind of speed,” Brenda Frese said. “We tried with Mir (McLean) and she did everything she could but we were trying to corral her with two to three players, but you see her end-to-end speed. I thought she was no question the most valuable player in this game. When you talk about she played 20 minutes and 23 points. We had no answer for her. That’s just how elite she is with her speed. When she did take shots she was able to go get rebounds and put-backs and a very difficult match-up for anyone in the country to have to be able to guard.”

Kitts, who finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds for her second consecutive double-double, added a free throw and Fulwiley hit another to put South Carolina up 64-60.

Maryland called a timeout with 36 seconds left. But South Carolina forced a turnover on the inbounds pass. Kitts added two more free throws to make it a two-possession game.

“I was like, dang I hope I don’t miss it,” Kitts said. “I was just telling myself I’ve got this. Let me just shoot them like I did in practice and I’m going to make them.”

Maryland had to foul to extend the game, and South Carolina made seven of eight free throws to clinch the win.

South Carolina outrebounded Maryland, the tenth-best rebounding team in the country, by 13. The defense also held Maryland 13 points below its season scoring average and only allowed 39.1% shooting.

Kaylene Smikle led Maryland with 17 points before fouling out. Allie Kubek and Sarah Te-Biasu added 12. Shyanne Sellers had 10 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, but Bree Hall and Tessa Johnson held her to 3-11 shooting and forced five turnovers.