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Why South Carolina, Dawn Staley aren't celebrating fifth straight SEC title yet
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- Why South Carolina, Dawn Staley aren't celebrating fifth straight SEC title yet
COLUMBIA — South Carolina women's basketball clinched its fifth-straight SEC regular-season championship with an 85-48 win over No. 17 Ole Miss .
The Feb. 22 victory secured coach Dawn Staley's 10th regular-season title and the top seed in the SEC Tournament. But the No. 3 Gamecocks (27-2, 13-1) could end up sharing the title with another team.
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And they don't want to do that.
"We want to win it outright, it's cool when you share it but not really," Staley said.
If South Carolina beats Missouri (16-13, 4-10) at home on Feb. 26 (8 p.m. ET, SEC Network) or No. 18 Kentucky on the road March 1, then there's no chance it has to share with anyone else.
"Hopefully we can get that done on Thursday and we'll make sure to jump around (to celebrate) because it's an incredible feat in this conference," Staley said.
South Carolina has second-longest title win streak in SEC history
South Carolina is the second team to win five straight SEC regular-season titles. Tennessee has the record with seven straight from 1998-2004.
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South Carolina has a two-game advantage over No. 4 Texas (26-3, 11-3) and No. 6 Vanderbilt (25-3, 11-3). The only way the Gamecocks would have to share the title is if they lost both games and Texas and/or Vanderbilt won theirs.
"We have two more games, got to finish strong," South Carolina guard Ta'Niya Latson said. "I feel like everybody on the team knows that … we have to finish the job."
Texas plays No. 25 Georgia and No. 24 Alabama . Vanderbilt plays Alabama and No. 21 Tennessee.
South Carolina clinched the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament because it beat Vanderbilt and Texas. The tournament is March 4-8 in Greenville, South Carolina.
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What's next for Dawn Staley, South Carolina
Though they are so close to the finish line and in a comfortable position, nothing changes for the Gamecocks.
"Play to the habits that you've developed over this season and it's worked out for us 90% of the season," Staley said. "Let's not try to do anything we haven't done and that's just it. Let's win, let's win outright ... we're here now and I just don't want us to take our foot off the gas."
South Carolina and Texas split their home-and-home series last year and finished with the same record, sharing the title. By way of a coin flip for the tie-breaker, the Gamecocks were the tournament's No. 1 seed.
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"I know this league, when you can control your own destiny, you should take advantage of it," Staley said. "Last year, we're looking right and left ... we didn't control our own destiny ... we don't want to go down that route again."
South Carolina hasn't lost a home SEC game since March 3, 2019, a streak of 55 games.
Kentucky should be a much tougher matchup, as South Carolina would be fighting both a road environment and players like 6-foot-5 center Clara Strack, who averages 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds.
Kentucky took down LSU to start conference play and lost some close SEC games when it didn't have 6-5 senior forward Teonni Key, who was injured from Jan. 1 to Feb. 1.
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Her presence in the post along with Strack and guards like Tonie Morgan, who scores 14.4 points and dishes 8.4 assists a game, pose a challenge on defense.
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: Dawn Staley, South Carolina not celebrating SEC title yet. Here's why
