No. 4 Gamecocks take down Temple at Colonial Life Arena

COLUMBIA, SC --- The No. 4 South Carolina women’s basketball team returned to Colonial Life Arena on Thursday night and defeated the Temple Owls in a 103 – 41 victory.

Zia Cooke led the team with 23 points, with 12 points coming in the first quarter. Cooke’s strong offensive showing continued against the Owls after she finished with 19 points against Iowa State on December 6.

“Zia hasn’t had consecutive shooting over 50 percent in two games,” South Carolina Head Coach Dawn Staley said. “Great to see the evolution of her game.”

Though Temple was playing the No. 4 team in the country, Head Coach Tonya Cardoza was not pleased with her team’s focus and mentality.

“Waste of time,” Cardoza said. “We didn’t compete like I thought we would.”

Staley was not pleased with her team’s performance early on saying, “little lethargic when it came to coming out.”

Coming into tonight’s game, the Gamecocks had not played in ten days, and Staley deemed the team’s rustiness to be the long break between games.

South Carolina will have the next week off, and return to Columbia on Christmas Eve before hosting Ole Miss in Colonial Life Arena on New Year’s Eve.