South Carolina’s ‘Freshies,’ with eyes on a repeat, let home finale marinate

Senior guard Zia Cooke was showered in fourth-quarter applause as she headed to the South Carolina bench in the Gamecocks’ 76-45 second-round NCAA Tournament win over South Florida.

Cooke, who scored 21 points on Sunday, circled Colonial Life Arena after the game and greeted as many Gamecock fans as possible to show her appreciation.

She found her parents, who flew in from Toledo to watch the game, near the Gamecocks’ tunnel. As she hugged them, Cooke soaked in the moments of her final college basketball game in Columbia — something she and her teammates did their best not to harp on before Sunday.

“After the game, for sure,” Cooke said. “But I don’t try to get too emotional, because I just feel like we have to stand on business right now. So that’s all I’m worried about.”

Cooke was part of the Gamecocks’ 2019 recruiting class, known as the “Freshies,” with Aliyah Boston, Brea Beal, Laeticia Amihere and Olivia Thompson.

They were all honored three weeks earlier as part of the program’s Senior Day held before USC’s final regular-season game. On Sunday, with USC an NCAA Tournament host, the seniors didn’t make this Colonial Life Arena finale a point of emphasis. They hardly talked about it over the weekend, though they knew it was coming.

Their goal to win a national championship continues to be the prevailing task on their to-do list, perhaps the only one. The season’s progression has granted South Carolina three All-SEC selections and two All-American players on its roster, along with an undefeated record.

“I think when we win a national championship, then they’ll understand the season is over,” redshirt freshman guard Raven Johnson said. “But right now, I don’t think they’re really keyed into that.”

As a group, the team lost just one game in Columbia, with three undefeated seasons at home. Among the most memorable of those victories came against UConn in 2020, the first win against the Huskies in program history. Boston, Beal and Cooke were starters in that game.

“It allowed us to open the door — that no one that comes in here will get a win on this particular group,” USC head coach Dawn Staley said.

South Florida led briefly in the first half Sunday and trailed by four points at halftime. Then South Carolina, and its fans, came alive in the second half. USC outscored South Florida 19-7 in the third quarter and 24-9 in the final frame.