BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Alaina Coates had 24 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 5 South Carolina again overcame the absence of All-American A’ja Wilson, beating LSU 84-61 on Sunday.
Coates scored 18 of her points in the first half – eight of those from the free throw line – en route to the powerful 6-foot-4 center’s 53rd career double-double. Allisha Gray scored 21 and Bianca Cuevas-Moore added 17 points for South Carolina (15-1, 5-0 Southeastern Conference), which now rides a nine-game winning streak.
Chloe Jackson scored 24 for LSU (14-4, 3-2), which lost for the first time in four games. Raigyne Moncrief added 13 points.
The Gamecocks, who shot 57 percent, never trailed by more than two points and never trailed after Cuevas-Moore’s jumper tied it at 11 half way through the first period.
