Chloe Kitts shakes off missed free throws, then sinks a pair to send South Carolina to Final Four

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Chloe Kitts doinked two straight free-throw attempts off the basket late in the third quarter of South Carolina’s Elite Eight game against Duke. Then she sank a pair of clutch ones when it mattered most.

Kitts got to the line and nailed her sixth and seventh free throws of the game to give the Gamecocks a four-point lead in their women’s NCAA Tournament regional final. South Carolina held on the final 5 seconds to win 54-50 and earn a trip to the Final Four for the fifth straight year.

Duke had worked the clock down before Ashlon Jackson shot an airball on a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left. South Carolina’s Bree Hall got the rebound, and the Gamecocks called timeout.

“Coach (Dawn Staley) drew up the play and she said the ball was going to get to me,” Kitts said.

The junior forward admitted she was nervous and initially asked her teammate, guard Te-Hina Paopao, to take the ball.

“I walked out there and I was like, ‘Pao, can you get the ball? Can you get the ball?’” Kitts said. “Pao was like ‘Girl, what? Go get the ball.’”

Kitts did and was fouled with 5.7 seconds left. As she walked up to the line, she said she was too nervous to even look around. Her father stood not too far from the bench cheering on. She was too afraid to glance over at him.

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Her teammates started yelling.

“I was at the 3-point line screaming: ‘You’re unshakeable! You’re unshakeable! You got this!” Hall said.

And Kitts, who led South Carolina with 14 points, told herself the same thing.

“I was just taking a deep breath,” she said. “I told myself that my coach wanted me to have the ball at the end of the game because she knew I could make my free throws. And I told myself that I’m really good at basketball, and I made both of them.”

Duke turned over the ball on the ensuing inbound play. Sania Feagin grabbed it, and the Gamecocks ran out the clock.

Staley said Kitt’s poise down the stretch was a reflection of her growth. She’s spent her entire college career with South Carolina after joining the Gamecocks midway through her high school senior season.

She barely played as a freshman, then averaged 9.1 points during the Gamecocks’ undefeated championship season as a sophomore. This season, Kitts averaged 10.3 points and eight rebounds, while shooting 52.9% from the field.

She’s scored in double figures in each round of the tournament, including a 15-point, 11-rebound performance against Maryland in the Sweet 16.

“She’s grown in every aspect of her life,” Staley said. “Mentally, physically, emotionally. We have grown-up conversations and I can’t believe it sometimes because of how she came in. Now she’s really thought-provoking, like she is really asking all the right things.”

Kitts said it was a great feeling to have her coach’s confidence despite the earlier misses.

“It feels amazing because I feel like I worked so hard,” Kitts said, “and my process is different. And everyone’s process is different. I’m just so thankful to be in that position at the end of the game to go the Final Four.”

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