Rutgers Scarlet Knights at South Carolina Gamecocks

Wilson scores 33, No. 3 South Carolina tops Rutgers 78-68

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Wilson scored a career-high 33 points, Lindsey Spann added 17 and South Carolina survived a serious test before beating Rutgers 78-68 on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase.

"That's something I kept telling my teammates in the huddle, just keep our composure," Wilson said. "Don't let them shake us too much."

Shaken, they were. Defeated, not yet, and not for a while. The reigning national champion Gamecocks (5-0) shot 64 percent in the fourth quarter, 54 percent for the game and extended their winning streak that started last season to 16 games.

Wilson was 9 for 15 from the field, 15 for 17 from the foul line and added a game-high 10 rebounds for South Carolina, which shook off a bit of a slow start and was down by six midway through the opening quarter.

"It's great to have an A'ja Wilson in your back pocket," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. "She shows up every game that we need her, and truly we needed her today."

Tyler Scaife scored 20 for Rutgers (4-1), which got 13 from Tekia Mack and 10 from Jazlynd Rollins.

"Too much A'ja, but we had major issues," Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said. "We had breakdowns. That's what I'm upset about. It was the defensive transition. And the bad part about it, we spent the only 48 hours we had to get prepared working on that. We lacked the discipline to do what we needed to do."

"That doesn't happen," Stringer said.

Rutgers was within 63-60 midway through the fourth, but South Carolina finished on a 15-8 run. Wilson topped her previous career-best by a point; she had 32 against Maryland on Nov. 13.

"That's how March is and that's how April's going to be for us," Wilson said.

BIG PICTURE

ANOTHER RUN

South Carolina had a 12-0 run in the first half, the 10th time already this season that the Gamecocks have had a run of at least 10-0. They've had at least one such spurt in all five games.

THEY'VE MET

Staley's third Olympic gold was won in Athens in 2004, when the Americans went 8-0. Stringer was an assistant for that U.S. team. They also coached against each other eight times when Staley was at Temple; Stringer and the Scarlet Knights went 5-3 in those meetings, including an NCAA tournament win.

UP NEXT

Rutgers: Faces Western Michigan in Friday's consolation round.

South Carolina: Faces St. John's in Friday's semifinals.

How can I watch Scarlet Knights vs. Gamecocks?

• TV Channel: Scarlet Knights vs Gamecocks 2021 College Basketball, week 3, is broadcasted on .
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Venue: Hertz Arena

Location: Estero, FL
Capacity: