Consider Dawn Staley impressed.
With St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where the South Carolina women’s basketball coach and her team visited before the game against Memphis. With the city of Memphis, where she took a walk downtown on Tuesday afternoon and found “everybody is just so warm and welcoming.” And with the Tigers even after the Gamecocks’ 106-63 exhibition win to start the season at FedExForum.
“They don’t give up,” Staley said. “They’re a very, very physical basketball team. Very well coached. They know where they want their shots to come from. They’re gritty defensively. For us, we probably just out-talented them. That’s not a bad thing. It’s something that, we were probably Memphis 12 years ago at South Carolina. We would outwork people.”
The Tigers hosted the Gamecocks as part of the inaugural Hoops for St. Jude Tip Off Classic, and the game followed the Memphis men hosting North Carolina.
“It’s the best,” Staley said. “It’s the best hospital to treat young kids with cancer. Because of the success stories that they have, and because of the research. And because of people who give and continue to give in order for a place like that to run and have the families not worry about anything besides the prayers that go into curing their loved ones.”
The Tigers scored the first two points of the game on an Alasia Smith layup, but South Carolina quickly countered with a 15-3 run. The lead was never really in doubt after that, save for a brief moment in the second quarter when Boler connected on back-to-back 3-pointers and pulled the Tigers within eight.
But the Gamecocks again pushed the lead to double digits, and the game slowly got away from the Tigers in the second half.
That wasn’t a surprise, given South Carolina’s stature as the unquestioned standard in college basketball. The Gamecocks went undefeated in 2023-24, winning the national championship.
Freshman Joyce Edwards was impressive in her collegiate debut, tallying a double-double in the first half and finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Chloe Kitts scored 15 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, while Te-Hina Paopao had 12 points and MiLaysia Fulwiley added 10 points before leaving the game with an injury.
Staley said Fulwiley twisted her ankle but should be OK.
The matchup was always going to present a monumental task for Memphis, but the mountain was even higher because the Tigers were without star guard DeeDee Hagemann. A transfer from Michigan State, Hagemann is out because of an academic eligibility issue.
“I just think we competed. We played smart basketball at times,” Memphis coach Alex Simmons said. “We had momentum, and then one undisciplined play kind of snowballed for us. And those are the types of plays we can’t let happen.”
There were still some positives to take for Memphis. In her first game in two years, Tanuyel Welch scored 12 points. Hannah Riddick had 13, while Boler had a team-high 16 points to lead the Tigers.
“I had a ball,” Boler said. “South Carolina had a ball.”
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley a fan of Memphis
