No. 1 South Carolina tops Duke 77-61 behind strong game from Cardoso

DURHAM, N.C. -- — Kamilla Cardoso had 15 points and 14 rebounds to help No. 1 South Carolina beat Duke 77-61 on Sunday.

Cardoso, who had her fifth double-double of the season, was one of five players to score in double figures for the Gamecocks (7-0). Chloe Kitts added 14 points and nine rebounds, Te-Hina Paopao scored 12 points, Bree Hall had 13, and Raven Johnson chipped in 11.

“Duke’s good. Duke put us back on our heels. They challenged us in every aspect of the game,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “We just had a bigger run at the end.”

Reigan Richardson led Duke (5-3) with 17 points while knocking down a career-best five 3-pointers. Delaney Thomas scored 11 of her 13 points in the first half for the Blue Devils.

Drama ensued before the halftime buzzer sounded. In the final play of the second quarter, Duke’s Jadyn Donovan blocked a layup attempt by Kitts and stared down the South Carolina forward as she lay on the floor, causing a bit of a kerfuffle. South Carolina’s Johnson then motioned for the referees to give Donovan a technical, and they obliged, but gave the Gamecocks guard one too.

The Gamecocks then started the third quarter on a 12-3 run – highlighted by a 3-pointer from Paopao – to take a 15-point lead.

“We came together, high energy,” Paopao said. “We’re a team that looks towards the third (quarter), knowing that we’re going to bounce back, and that’s what we did.”

Duke battled back from that deficit to tie the game up with 7:43 to play after Richardson sank a shot from behind the arc, but South Carolina responded with a 15-2 burst to take another double-digit lead. Cardoso had eight points in that final stretch for South Carolina.

“We have shown the ability to compete in the environment, and the next thing we have to show is the ability to win in the environment. And we don’t have that yet,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. “And we need to chase after it with reckless abandon, to try and get it. It’s elusive. It’s not something that’s easy to catch. It’s why not everybody can do it.”

BIG PICTURE

Duke: Much like their season so far, this game was a bag of mixed results for the Blue Devils. Duke forced South Carolina into a season-worst 20 turnovers, but allowed the Gamecocks to shoot a season-high 60% from 3-point land. At their best, this is a Duke team that took No. 3 Stanford to overtime on the road. It’s also the team that lost at home to mid-major Davidson. Against South Carolina, Duke landed somewhere in the middle, and that wasn’t enough to beat the top-ranked Gamecocks.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks trailed early in their second consecutive game on North Carolina’s Tobacco Road but found a way to pull out a win to remain undefeated. Again, it was another total team effort that led to a South Carolina victory. In each of the team’s wins this season, at least three Gamecocks have scored in double figures.

REBOUND RESPONSE

In Thursday’s win at North Carolina, South Carolina was outrebounded in a game for the first time since Nov. 20, 2022 – an overtime road victory at Stanford. The Gamecocks responded by dominating the glass against Duke, winning the rebounding battle 45-24.

While Cardoso had nearly a third of those rebounds, seven other players grabbed at least one. Cardoso is fifth in the country in rebounds per game with 12.1, and South Carolina is first in total rebounds per game with 53.6.

“When you have a 6-foot-7 post like Kamilla taking over, it’s amazing to have,” Paopao said.

UP NEXT

Duke: The Blue Devils open Atlantic Coast Conference play at Clemson on Thursday.

South Carolina: Morgan State visits the Gamecocks on Wednesday.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball