Boston, Hall leads No. 1 Gamecocks behind Alabama 65-52

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Aliyah Boston had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Bree Hall had a career-high 18 to lead No. 1 South Carolina to a 65-52 win over Alabama on Sunday.

The Gamecocks (21-0, 9-0 Southeastern Conference) earned their 27th straight win in a game that went into the third quarter.

Alabama (16-6, 5-4) drew within four points in the third quarter, but Hall, Boston and South Carolina defenses took over. The duo scored 11 straight points to give the Gamecocks a 48-35 advantage, the biggest of the game at the time.

Boston made 8 of 10 shots for their 14th double-double of the season and had four blocks and four assists. The reigning international of the year got plenty of help from Hall, who made half of her 8 three-point attempts. When he came into play, Hall had made just 1 of 11 3s and was averaging 2.6 points.

South Carolina’s top scorer Zia Cooke had six points — 10 below her season average.

Sarah Ashlee Barker posted a season-high 15 points for Alabama, Brittany Davis scored 11 of her 13 in the first half and had eight rebounds, and Aaliyah Nye had eight points but played just 17 minutes before fouling.

Raven Johnson’s layup and a 3-pointer with 1:45 left gave the Gamecocks a 33-23 lead late in the first half. Alabama then ended a four-minute field-goal drought with Davis’ long 3-pointer with 19 seconds remaining, cutting the halftime lead to 33-26.

BIG PICTURE

South Carolina: The Gamecocks took 35 points off the bench but shot only 18 of 52 (35%) from the floor.

Alabama: In its third game in seven days, The Tide lost 89-51 to No. 4 LSU and beat Arkansas 69-66 with a late 3-pointer. Alabama has lost 41 straight games to top 5 teams.

NEXT

South Carolina: hosts Kentucky on Thursday night.

Alabama: Visits Missouri on February 5th.

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AP Women’s College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll