Greenville, South Carolina – Vanderbilt attacked. The Commodores were within the notable distance of top-seeded South Carolina's lead in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament as freshman Phenom Mikayla Blakes led the charges. The Gamecocks maintained a slim advantage 68-63, just four minutes to play after the Blakes rocked a 3-pointer.
Then Dawn Staley's Squad stepped on the gas and finished the game with a 16-0 run, earning an 84-63 victory at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Friday.
Box's score showed South Carolina junior forward Chloe Kitts was the best player on the floor during a matinee Friday afternoon, finishing 25 points with 12 rebounds and 12 shots. And in fact, Kitz's play was important to help the number one gamecock pull away from Vanderbilt's upset bid.
But in this game, too, this season, the player who injected life and energy into South Carolina with athleticist head touring feats, was the year of sophomore Milaysia Fulwiley, the SEC sixth player, emphasizing a valuable play and incredible instinct.
Fullwiley, who was a freshman here last year as a freshman, made an impact every time he stepped onto the floor on Friday. Her playmaking abilities sparked her team, her fast breaks as the finish cheered her teammates, and her clever passing abilities cried out the crowd.
“She's seeing things no one else sees,” Staley said of Fullwiley. “So she has to train people to play with her.”
A major example took place in South Carolina's decisive gaming seal run in the fourth quarter after the Gamecocks began surrounding offensive rebounds after the Gamecocks missed a free throw by Kitz. Fully Wiley caught the ball near the court, dribbling around one defender, dribbling around another, another defender accelerated and dribbled around the other.
“Behind the scenes pass, the coach drew it for me to go. She didn't say a score or a film,” Fullwiley said. “I noticed something would open when I attacked the middle. I saw Sania from the corner of my eye, so I threw it and she finished it.”
Staley added: “Simple passes can be made. Sometimes, like a behind-the-scenes pass, it was really the only pass. It's the only pass she can deliver the ball. I've done a lot of back passes, so I know that.”
It was a dime that would have made Steve Nash blush, which gave the Gamecox a 14-point lead with about 100 seconds of play. Simply put, the game was over and Fully Wiley was a big reason.
Fulwiley finished the game with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals in 23 minutes of action. All three of the dimes from Columbia in South Carolina came during the second half of the Gamecocks surge. Fully Wiley also scored the final point of the game, grabbing an offensive rebound from a Breehole mistake and putting the ball in the bucket with a simple layup.
No look pass is something that Fullwily puts into practice. She often splits them as Gamecocks run through transition drills. And, especially at Feagin, 6-Foo-3 senior with an even larger wingspan – Fulwiley developed chemistry and trust.
“I hope they catch it and they make a shot,” Fullwiley told SB Nation. “And it feels like we're doing a lot of it, along with Sania. I saw her coming out of the corner of my eyes, and I knew she was going to finish it. So there's that connection. She's ready for anything.”
Fullwily said he began to feel more confident in trying bold and flashy passes in the seventh grade. Her first attempt was her efforts to mimic the player she admired, LeBron James.
“I was a huge LeBron fan, but…” Fullwiley pauses. “I'm a curry fan right now.”
And Fully Wiley also made Steph's best imitation in this game. With 3.4 seconds remaining in the first quarter, she stripped her ownership from Vanderbilt players, ran to the opposite right wing and pulled her out of 3-point range. As the buzzer blew, her shot went harmless via the hoop, closing out a 13-4 run for the Gamecocks.
“We saw how (Vannderbilt's Leilani Kapinus) was casually dribbling,” explained Fulwiley. “So I was like, 'I might try to take the ball too.' And when I took it, I was like, “Well, I have to shoot it.”
Fulwiley is more than comfortable shooting in this 15,000-seat arena.
As a high school student – long before she signed an approval contract With a curry brandshe was blooming in one of the top 15 prospects in the 2023 recruitment class, so she helped WJ Keenan High School in Richland County win multiple state championships here. Fullwily became the starting point guard for high school as an eighth grader, and called out a local coach. Compare her with an ivory ratta. Originally from McConnells, South Carolina, Ratta, who owned the state's high school circuit, led the UNC Tar Heel to three ACC titles and a final four-beat pair 20 years ago.
Fullwily was able to go her path to help South Carolina win her second Conference Tournament Crown and make another trip to the Final Four.
“Millasia is a talent, a generational talent,” Staley said. “When I say that she can do something I've never seen on the basketball court… when she moves through it, she pumps the tempo. Her speed for me is her superpower. When she moves through it, no one in the court can stay in front of her.”
And when Fully Wiley proceeds with it, South Carolina is hard to beat.
