South Carolina women’s basketball punched first against No. 9 Maryland on Sunday night.
The Terrapins punched back, harder.
In a game of runs, the No. 10 Gamecocks gave up the bigger one, losing their first game of the year, 85-61, at Colonial Life Arena.
After a sloppy, error-filled win over Clemson on Thursday, USC (2-1) seemed to have corrected its mistakes, sprinting out to an 8-2 lead in the game’s first 1:46, shooting 4-of-5 from the field and forcing two turnovers for easy transition buckets, leading to a Maryland timeout.
And at first, the stoppage seemed to make little difference, as the Gamecocks extended their lead to 18-6, with redshirt senior forward Alexis Jennings and redshirt junior guard Te’a Cooper in particular getting to the basket with ease.