Time was ticking, and South Carolina women’s basketball needed a spark.
Trailing by nine with less seven minutes remaining in the second quarter Sunday against Mississippi State in Humphrey Coliseum, there was minimal offensive success for the No. 2 Gamecocks (14-1, 2-0 SEC).
After Ashlyn Watkins went down with an injury, starting forward Chloe Kitts quickly scored five points to cut the deficit. Then sophomore guard Tessa Johnson’s hand heated up. She hit her first of eventually four 3-pointers in the second quarter.
Johnson fueled a 19-2 run to close the half and gave South Carolina its first lead, which it never lost, defeating the Bulldogs 95-68.
“Tessa was just lights out,” coach Dawn Staley said. “Tessa was locked, loaded and ready to shoot the ball. Her focus goes to another level when we’re down. She seems to hit big shots when we’re down.”
Kitts finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, her fourth double-double of the season. Johnson finished with a career-high 22 points.
Before Sunday, Kitts had scored more than four points in only one of the past five games. In December, she had a stretch in which she didn’t score against Charleston Southern then scored only two points in each of the next two games.
“Chloe was due,” Staley said. “Chloe works her butt off. Sometimes she doesn’t reap the benefits of her hard work through stats. She got them today.”
Against MSU, Kitts established offensive intensity inside the paint and dominated, which allowed easy buckets for herself while also giving the guards open outside shots. She had four assists, and South Carolina outscored the Bulldogs (13-3, 0-2) by 20 in her 25 minutes of playing time.
With 7:55 left in the third quarter, Kitts caught the ball with 6-foot-5 forward Quanirah Montague defending her. She dribbled once to her left then backed around to her right, establishing contact and position. She turned, elevated and hit a jumper over Montague.
Kitts excels in South Carolina’s offense and can be a very systematic player but she takes her game to another level when she creates shots for herself. The Gamecocks benefit from Kitts not just hitting layups off pick and rolls but when she attacks the hoop.
Her teammates have consistently praised what Kitts does off the court, such as lifting on game days to improve her strength.
“She’s doing a lot of extra work,” Johnson said about Kitts on the SEC Network after the game. “She’s doing everything, and you can see it on the court.”
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Part of what has elevated Johnson’s game in Year 2 has been putting the ball on the floor and hitting short jumpers. She has shot around 43% on 3-pointers in both of her seasons at South Carolina, but her shooting from 2-point distance she has improved from 46.1% to 56.3%.
With 4:54 to play in the game, Kitts caught the ball after setting a screen for Te-Hina Paopao then drove baseline to the right side. Johnson noticed her defender wasn’t seeing both the ball and Johnson so she cut hard to the foul line, and Kitts dumped the ball to her. In rhythm and without taking a dribble to let her defender catch up, Johnson nailed the 2-pointer.
“My dad’s always telling me to work on mid-range and getting to the basket because my shot isn’t always going to fall, so I have to be able to score from somewhere else,” Johnson said.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: How South Carolina women’s basketball got a spark vs Mississippi State
