South Carolina women’s basketball will be No. 2 in the polls when the Gamecocks host Texas in an SEC showdown.
Coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina (17-1, 4-0 SEC) host No. 4 Texas (18-1, 3-1) on Jan. 15 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
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South Carolina rose one spot Jan. 12 to No. 2 after beating Arkansas and Georgia. Texas dropped two spots after its first loss of the season vs LSU on Jan. 11.
UConn (17-0) remained No. 1 in the polls, and UCLA (15-1) moved up to No. 3.
Texas coach Vic Schaefer criticized the SEC for scheduling the Longhorns to play back-to-back road games vs LSU and South Carolina. LSU jumped from No. 12 to No. 6 in the rankings after beating Texas.
Texas handed South Carolina its only loss 66-64 in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving. South Carolina is coming off a 65-43 win over Georgia on Jan. 11.
“I mean you’re going to have to put more than 65 points on the scoreboard to beat Texas I think,” Staley said after her team shot 37.9% against Georgia. “We have to have a really solid game on both sides of the ball to beat Texas. It’s a big game for us, everybody knows that. A lot of implications regarding the game that are near and far.”
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South Carolina did get second-leading scorer Ta’Niya Latson back for the first time since Dec. 28 because of an ankle injury. She had nine points and a team-high three assists vs Georgia.
Will Alicia Tournebize make South Carolina debut vs Texas?
Alicia Tournebize, South Carolina’s 6-foot-7, 18-year-old transfer from France who can dunk, has not played yet. But she has been practicing for the last week after arriving in Columbia on Jan. 1.
Tournebize went through warmups for the Georgia game, but South Carolina had already announced on the injury report she wasn’t going to play.
“More practice time,” Staley said when asked why Tournebize didn’t play vs. Georgia. “She’s been having to do orientations and all of that so she missed some practice time. So we want to get her some more practice time.
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“She’ll get out there on Tuesday and Wednesday, probably get a work out in on Monday as well just to load her up a little bit more.”
Though it would be a more high-pressure game to make her debut against Texas, an advantage is the Longhorns now won’t have any film on Tournebize to prepare with if Staley decides she’s ready.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Where South Carolina, Dawn Staley rank in polls before Texas game
