Staley talks up Gamecocks' resilience in 'ugly' win

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - South Carolina coach Dawn Staley knows what will be said about her team after a 71-67 win over Maryland in the Sweet 16 on Friday.

For the second straight game, the reigning national champions trailed at halftime and had to come from behind to win after shooting poorly for stretches and making uncharacteristic mistakes.

Where Staley sees a resilient team, one that is unshakeable and unflappable, in its quest to repeat, others, she acknowledges, may not see it the same way.

"Is it ugly? Yes. Are people going to say this doesn't look like a national championship team?" Staley asked. "Well, we didn't look like one last year to most in the beginning of the season. Probably didn't look like one -- we looked like one in '22. (2017) we didn't look like one. I think we're back to where we don't look like one, and hopefully we can win it and even it out."

To get the win Friday, South Carolina turned to MiLaysia Fulwiley, one of its best players off the bench. Staley saw a starting group that did not have much cohesion or spark in the first half, so she turned to Fulwiley because of her ability to create shots.

Maryland went up six early in the third quarter before the Gamecocks started chipping away, thanks in large part to Fulwiley.

Her dazzling plays - from a spin move dish out to Te-Hina Paopao to a behind-the-back lay in -sparked South Carolina in the second half. On her behind-the-back score, Fulwiley said she heard Maryland players screaming, "Come on, come on, she's not going to score this."

"I just let my confidence finish the rest and it went in. So I was excited to prove my haters wrong."

Fulwiley set her own NCAA tournament high with 23 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, the most by South Carolina player off the bench in an NCAA tournament game since 2000.

"If it's that kind of game, Lay is the perfect guard that you can call on to manufacture points and she did that," Staley said of Fulwiley. "Everybody just started to flow around her. We haven't really had to play that way a whole lot, so it was a little bit different but refreshing to know we can call on the youngster and she can come through for us."

Still, South Carolina trailed 60-59 when Maryland forward Allie Kubek fouled out of the game with 3:07 left. That changed the dynamic. Without her presence inside, South Carolina went on a 7-0 run to essentially seal the game. Fulwiley had two driving layups on that run and was exceptional all night on her drives to the basket, shooting 78 percent on paint baskets, according to ESPN Research.

She scored or assisted on 29 total points in just 21 minutes played.

"Nobody in the country has anyone to be able to match that kind of speed," Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. "We were trying to corral her with two to three players, but you see her end-to-end speed. I thought she was no question the most valuable player in this game. We had no answer for her. That's just how elite she is with her speed."

Frese said she did not want to criticize the officiating but pointed out her team went to the free-throw line 16 times in the first half, but had only two free-throw attempts in the second half.