No. 1 South Carolina reaches another milestone with program record 43rd straight win

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Another victory, another milestone for No. 1 South Carolina.

The Gamecocks won their program-record 43rd straight game with a 77-45 win over rival Clemson on Wednesday night, surpassing the old streak that began in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and continued through the next season’s Final Four.

“Program record? Wow,” joked Te-Hina Paopao, who scored 13 points to lead her team against the Tigers.

“No, it feels great,” said Paopao, who joined the Gamecocks from Oregon before last year’s 38-0 national title run. “We’ve just got to take one game at a time. You know that every team is going to bring their best, day in and day out, so we’ve just got to be a team that does not listen to the outside noises.”

Right now, the talk is all about the defending champs making it two in row.

The Gamecocks have started 5-0 including a season-opening win over Big Ten opponent Michigan in Las Vegas and a victory over then-ninth-ranked N.C. State a few days later.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley does not spend too much time thinking about the record run, although she was proud that her team followed up a 42-game win streak before losing with their current run of victories.

In all, Staley’s team has won 85 of its past 86 games, the lone loss coming to Iowa and Caitlin Clark, 77-73, in a memorable national semifinal game in 2023.

“But to have two of them, it’s pretty special,” Staley said. “It means our players make a commitment to the team, they make a commitment to us (coaches), they make a commitment to each other and when you do it that way, you have this type of historical moment that you appreciate.”

But Staley said she and her players’ focus is on what’s ahead and it’s a very daunting stretch of games that starts with South Carolina at No. 5 UCLA on Sunday.

There are games with No. 8 Iowa State, No. 14 Duke and No. 19 TCU within the next three weeks.

“We’re in the middle of the season and we go on the road and play one of the biggest games of our season in a few days,” Staley said. “24 hour rule. We’ll enjoy it, then we’ve got to move on.”

The Gamecocks have already had a couple of milestone moments early this season. They won their 60th in a row at home — a run that started in Dec. 2020 — and grew that to 61 straight this past Sunday with a 95-44 win over East Carolina.

South Carolina’s latest win against Clemson was its 14th straight in the series.

Gamecocks senior Bree Hall, who has two national title rings, is proud of what her team accomplished. She acknowledged how big of a moment breaking the old mark was, but she is locked into the accomplishments to come.

“It’s great,” Hall said. “But I feel like it’s the same thing we said last year, we don’t focus on that, we focus on the next game.”

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