Howard set an NCAA women’s tournament record it wanted no part of against South Carolina.
The No. 16 seed Bison scored just four points in the first half of their first-round game against the overall No. 1 seed Gamecocks on Friday. Howard was outscored 44-4 in the half and set the NCAA record for fewest points in a half in a women’s NCAA tournament game. The Gamecocks let their foot off the pedal in the final two quarters, eventually winning 79-21.
Howard was a staggering 1-of-26 from the field in the first half and all but three of those attempts were two-pointers. The Bison attempted just three threes in the first half as 11 players saw playing time.
Iyanna Warren was the only Howard player to score in the first two quarters. She made the only field goal and added two free throws late in the second quarter. South Carolina outscored Howard 22-2 in each of the quarters.
Howard nearly went scoreless for the entirety of the first quarter too. Warren didn’t get the team’s first basket of the game until there were 90 seconds left in the first period. That came after South Carolina started the game on a 20-0 run.
The Gamecocks weren’t very efficient from the field themselves — the score at halftime could have been a lot worse. South Carolina was 17-of-47 from the field and 2-of-22 from three. That poor shooting led to South Carolina grabbing 19 offensive rebounds in the first half as they had a considerable size advantage. South Carolina outrebounded Howard 41-16 in the half as the Bison also had 13 turnovers.
Howard finished the game making just eight of its 54 shot attempts and turned the ball over 20 times. South Carolina outrebounded the Bison by a total of 41 as Howard had just 28 rebounds.
