Kamilla Cardoso comes away with a steal and scores to put South Carolina up 31-29 over Duke.
DURHAM, N.C. — \u2014 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.
\u201cDuke\u2019s good. Duke put us back on our heels. They challenged us in every aspect of the game,\u201d South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. \u201cWe just had a bigger run at the end.\u201d
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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 \u2013 highlighted by a 3-pointer from Paopao \u2013 to take a 15-point lead.
\u201cWe came together, high energy,\u201d Paopao said. \u201cWe\u2019re a team that looks towards the third (quarter), knowing that we\u2019re going to bounce back, and that\u2019s what we did.\u201d
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.
\u201cWe 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\u2019t have that yet,\u201d Duke coach Kara Lawson said. \u201cAnd we need to chase after it with reckless abandon, to try and get it. It\u2019s elusive. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s easy to catch. It\u2019s why not everybody can do it.\u201d
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\u2019s also the team that lost at home to mid-major Davidson. Against South Carolina, Duke landed somewhere in the middle, and that wasn\u2019t enough to beat the top-ranked Gamecocks.
South Carolina: The Gamecocks trailed early in their second consecutive game on North Carolina\u2019s 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\u2019s wins this season, at least three Gamecocks have scored in double figures.
REBOUND RESPONSE
In Thursday\u2019s win at North Carolina, South Carolina was outrebounded in a game for the first time since Nov. 20, 2022 \u2013 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.
\u201cWhen you have a 6-foot-7 post like Kamilla taking over, it\u2019s amazing to have,\u201d 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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