GREENVILLE, S.C. — Vanderbilt had stormed again. With freshman phenom Mikayla Blakes main the cost, the Commodores had gotten inside hanging distance of top-seeded South Carolina’s lead within the quarterfinals of the SEC Match. The Gamecocks held on to a slim benefit, 68-63, with simply over 4 minutes to play after Blakes swished a 3-pointer.
After which Daybreak Staley’s squad stepped on the gasoline, ending the sport on a 16-0 run, taking an 84-63 victory inside Bon Secours Wellness Enviornment on Friday.
The field rating will present that South Carolina junior ahead Chloe Kitts was one of the best participant on the ground in the course of the Friday afternoon matinee, ending with 25 factors on 10-of-12 taking pictures to associate with 10 rebounds. And certainly, Kitts’ play was essential to assist the No. 1 Gamecocks draw back from Vanderbilt’s upset bid.
However so usually on this sport — and incessantly over the course of this season, too — the participant who injected life and power into South Carolina with head-turning feats of athleticism, spotlight worthy performs and unimaginable instincts was sophomore MiLaysia Fulwiley, the SEC Sixth Participant of the 12 months.
Fulwiley, who was the SEC Match MVP right here final yr as a freshman, made an affect each time she stepped on the ground Friday. Her playmaking skills sparked her group, her finishes on quick breaks made her teammates cheer, and her deft passing skills made the gang roar.
“She sees issues on the market that nobody else sees,” Staley mentioned of Fulwiley. “So, she’s bought to coach folks to play along with her.”
A major instance got here throughout South Carolina’s decisive game-sealing run within the fourth quarter, after the Gamecocks corralled an offensive rebound following a missed free throw by Kitts. Fulwiley caught the ball close to mid-court, dribbled round one defender, accelerated and drove by one other, and simply earlier than bumping into a 3rd Commodore with two others able to collapse on her within the paint, she whipped the ball round her again along with her proper hand, delivering an ideal no-look move to a wide-open Sania Feagin who linked on a layup with ease.
“The behind-the-back move, coach drew it up for me to go — she didn’t say rating or shoot,” Fulwiley mentioned. “I spotted that if I assault center, one thing would open up. I seen Sania from the nook of my eye, so I simply threw it and he or she completed it.”
Staley added: “Generally a easy move will do. Generally, just like the behind-the-back move, that was actually the one move — the one move that she may ship the ball. I do know that as a result of I’ve executed a lot behind-the-back passes.”
It was a dime that might’ve made Steve Nash blush, and it gave the Gamecocks a 14-point lead with about 100 seconds to play. Merely put, the sport was over and Fulwiley was a giant cause why.
Fulwiley completed the sport with 15 factors, six rebounds, three assists and 4 steals in 23 minutes of motion. All three of the Columbia, South Carolina native’s dimes got here in the course of the Gamecocks’ late-game surge. Fulwiley scored the ultimate factors of the sport too, grabbing an offensive rebound off Bree Corridor’s miss and placing the ball within the bucket with a straightforward layup.
The no-look passes are one thing that Fulwiley practices. She’ll usually break them out when the Gamecocks are working by means of transition drills. And with Feagin specifically — the 6-foo-3 senior with a fair bigger wingspan — Fulwiley has developed chemistry and belief along with her.
“I simply hope and pray that they catch it and so they make the shot,” Fulwiley informed SB Nation. “And with Sania, I really feel like we do this lots. I type of seen her out of the nook of my eye, and I knew she was going to complete it. So, now we have that type of connection. She’s prepared for something.”
Fulwiley mentioned she actually began creating a confidence in making an attempt these daring and flashy passes within the seventh grade. The primary time she tried it was in an effort to mimic a participant she appeared as much as, LeBron James.
“I used to be an enormous fan of LeBron, however…” Fulwiley pauses. “I’m a Curry fan now, for positive.”
And Fulwiley did her greatest imitation of Steph on this sport too. With 3.4 seconds left within the first quarter, she stripped possession away from a Vanderbilt participant, ran to the fitting wing on the other finish and pulled up from 3-point vary. Because the buzzer sounded, her shot fell harmlessly by means of the ring, capping off a 13-4 run for the Gamecocks.
“I seen how (Vannderbilt’s Leilani Kapinus) was dribbling like, casually,” Fulwiley defined. “And so I used to be like, ‘I’d as effectively simply attempt to take the ball.’ After which once I took it, I used to be like, ‘Effectively, I’ve to shoot it.”
Fulwiley is greater than snug taking pictures on this 15,000-seat area.
As a excessive schooler — lengthy earlier than she had an NIL endorsement deal with the Curry Model, as she was blossoming into one of many high 15 prospects within the 2023 recruiting class — she helped Richland County’s W. J. Keenan Excessive College win a number of state championships right here. Fulwiley grew to become her highschool’s start line guard as an eighth grader, evoking native coaches to evaluate her to Ivory Latta. A local of McConnells, South Carolina, Latta owned the highschool circuit within the state earlier than occurring to guide the UNC Tar Heels to 3 ACC titles and a pair of Closing 4 berths 20 years in the past.
Fulwiley could possibly be effectively on her solution to serving to South Carolina win a second convention match crown and make one other journey to the Closing 4.
“MiLaysia is a expertise, generational expertise,” Staley mentioned. “After I say that she will be able to do issues on the basketball courtroom that I haven’t seen a feminine do… When she has bought it occurring, she pumps tempo. Her velocity to me is her superpower. Nobody on the courtroom can maintain in entrance of her when she’s bought it occurring.”
And when Fulwiley has bought it occurring, South Carolina is mighty tough to beat.