Ta’Niya Latson scored 21 points and Tessa Johnson added 20 as No. 2 South Carolina defeated No. 5 Vanderbilt 103-74 on Sunday, ending Vanderbilt’s undefeated start to the season.
Vanderbilt had opened the year with a school-record 20 straight wins but could not overcome South Carolina, which has now beaten the Commodores in 19 consecutive games during coach Dawn Staley’s tenure.
The Gamecocks (20-2, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) rebounded from an overtime loss at Oklahoma last Thursday by taking control early against Vanderbilt (20-1, 6-1). South Carolina started with an 11-2 run and expanded its lead to as much as 21 points in the second quarter. The team’s defense forced Vanderbilt into 16 first-half turnovers; the Commodores have averaged just over 12 per game this season.
Vanderbilt managed to close the gap before halftime after Mikayla Blakes converted a three-point play and Aubrey Galvan hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, cutting South Carolina’s lead to 11 at intermission. After two quick baskets by Vanderbilt early in the third quarter brought them within seven points, South Carolina responded with a decisive 15-2 run.
Blakes led Vanderbilt with 23 points but also committed five of her team’s season-high matching total of 20 turnovers. Madina Okot contributed 17 points for South Carolina, while Joyce Edwards added 16. In total, five Gamecocks scored in double figures against a team that typically holds opponents to just under 58 points per game.
This win marks South Carolina’s second victory over a Top Five opponent in their last four games, following their win over then-No.4 Texas on January 15.
Coach Dawn Staley’s squad achieved several milestones: “The win over Vanderbilt marked the 19th consecutive victory for the Gamecocks over the Commodores, with all 19 coming during the Dawn Staley era,” according to program notes. “With the 103-74 win, South Carolina became the first team to score 100+ points vs. an AP top-5 team since 2023 (102-85, LSU vs. Iowa), and the 29-point margin of victory marked the largest over a top-5 team in the poll era.”
South Carolina recorded its highest-scoring quarter of this season with a first-quarter output of 33 points and tallied its most paint points against an SEC opponent this year with a total of 56.
Since the start of the 2019–20 season, South Carolina has won every game following a loss—now totaling eleven such victories—by an average margin exceeding twenty-seven points. The last time they lost back-to-back games was during the 2018–19 campaign.
Nine out of ten Gamecocks who played registered at least one point; five finished in double digits and two surpassed twenty points each. Latson notched her fifth game this season scoring more than twenty while adding five rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Johnson matched her season high with four three-pointers among her twenty-point tally—a career best for SEC competition.
Okot nearly posted a double-double by shooting eight-for-nine from field goal range along with seven rebounds and tying her career high with five steals. Edwards collected sixteen points plus seven boards and six assists—the latter leading or sharing for her team for a third time this year.
Raven Johnson chipped in ten points—including two threes—and distributed six assists; she now ties for fourth-most career assists in SEC contests within program history at one hundred ninety-three.
