South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley reacts during a championship match against Mississippi State at the Southeastern Conference women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Greenville, S.C., Sunday, March 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Richard Shiro)
Women’s NCAA Tournament Top 16 seeds revealed: South Carolina drops to No. 2
On Thursday night, the women’s NCAA Tournament selection committee revealed their second and final top 16 seed projections for the season.
There were significant changes at the top of the rankings, however. The USC Trojans topped the chart as the No. 1 seed following an upset over UCLA. On the flip side, South Carolina dropped to a No. 2 seed due to the 87-58 loss to UConn on February 16. It is the first time since the 2018-2019 tournament that head coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks are not a No. 1 seed. The good news is, they have the opportunity to rebound. South Carolina will play Kentucky on Sunday to earn the coin toss for the seeding.
There is still a lot that can change to shift the seedings before the actual tournament seeds are announced. But these projections from the selection committee set the stage for an intensely competitive NCAA Tournament, with several of these teams aiming for top positions.
Chloe Kitts joins an elite group of South Carolina WBB players with triple-double
In South Carolina’s 75-59 win over Ole Miss on Thursday night, Gamecocks forward Chloe Kitts did something that only seven other South Carolina women’s basketball players did before her. Kitts scored her first career triple-double against the Rebels with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists.
This is the first triple-double for South Carolina since Aliyah Boston did it back in 2021. Boston is the only player in South Carolina women’s basketball history to have more than one triple-double in her college career. Kitts became the eighth Gamecocks women’s basketball player to record a triple-double, and this is only the ninth triple-double in program history.
Kitts was on it all night long, but she was only the second-leading scorer for the Gamecocks behind Sania Feagin, who scored a career-high 22 points. Joyce Edwards was the only other player in double digits for the Gamecocks, finishing the game with 10 points.
Kitts had the points and the rebounds locked up in the third quarter for the double-double on the night, something she is very used to achieving. However, going into the fourth quarter, she was just two assists away from the highlight-reel triple-double. After getting that last assist in the fourth quarter, the camera panned to Kitts celebrating down the court, pointing at the “Carolina” on the front of her jersey.
Kitts was on it all night long, but she was only the second-leading scorer for the Gamecocks behind Sania Feagin, who scored a career-high 22 points. Joyce Edwards was the only other player in double digits for the Gamecocks, finishing the game with 10 points.
Kitts had the points and the rebounds locked up in the third quarter for the double-double on the night, something she is very used to achieving. However, going into the fourth quarter, she was just two assists away from the highlight-reel triple-double. After getting that last assist in the fourth quarter, the camera panned to Kitts celebrating down the court, pointing at the “Carolina” on the front of her jersey.
