After a pair of impressive weeks from A’ja Wilson and Sophie Cunningham, each has earned weekly SEC basketball honors.
Women’s SEC basketball has a powerhouse and it isn’t Tennessee. South Carolina is ranked #2 in the country and just barely defeated Texas A&M in a fantastic 55-54 duel. It was just the latest “w” for South Carolina – the Gamecocks are 17-0 and 5-0 in SEC basketball. One major reason the Gamecocks remained undefeated is the play of sophomore forward A’ja Wilson. Wilson was awarded with the Women’s SEC Basketball Player of the Week Honors.
Wilson posted back-to-back 26 point games against ranked SEC basketball opponents Kentucky and Texas A&M. She also posted a career-high in blocks against Kentucky with 8. She tied her career-high the very next game by swatting 8 shots against the Aggies. Wilson’s play in crunch time was incredibly impressive.
The Gamecocks were tied with the Wildcats with 7:26 to play. Wilson went on to contribute in some form on every field goal from that point on besides one. She hit 3 her self, assisted on a 3 and hit 2 from the charity stripe. Against the Aggies she scored 5 of her 7 4th-quarter points in a span of just over a minute to put her Gamecocks up by for with 1:16 to play. A’ja Wilson and the Gamecocks weren’t the only ones with impressive moments, though.
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There are several other women’s SEC basketball teams ranked in the top 25, including Missouri at #22. They had a top notch win against #11 Mississippi State but failed to gain a “should win” against Arkansas later in the week. One person you can’t blame is Sophie Cunningham, who added Women’s SEC Basketball Freshman of the Week Honors to her growing resume.
The Tigers currently sit at #22 and are 15-3. The only damper on their record is they are only 2-3 in SEC basketball thus far.
Cunningham averaged 14 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals last week. The Tigers defeated #6 Mississippi State, the highest-ranked opponent the program has been able to defeat since 2006 and second-highest team the program has ever defeated according to secsports.com.
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Sophie Cunningham went for 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal against Mississippi State. She shined when the lights were the brightest. If she wants to complete with players like Wilson for player of the week, though, she’ll have to become more consistent. Cunningham only added 6 points against Arkansas, though her overall game remained strong. She still had 6 rebounds, 4 dimes, a block and two steals in the game.