Joyce Edwards scored 20 points and No. 2 South Carolina overcame a slow start to beat Charleston Southern 82-46 on Thursday – but Dawn Staley was far from impressed.

Dawn Staley reacted to South Carolina’s slow against Charleston Southern on Thursday by writing a question mark on the board during halftime.

Joyce Edwards was the star of the show, scoring 20 points as No. 2 Gamecocks managed to secure their 64th consecutive home game victory with an 82-46 win. South Carolina, the defending national champions, will now enjoy a 10-day break from competition.

Despite a shaky start where the Gamecocks (11-1) made only two of their first 13 shots and trailed the Buccaneers 15-11 after 10 minutes, Bree Hall’s 3-pointer sparked a 23-11 run that helped them gain control. South Carolina then pulled away in the final two quarters.

South Carolina’s slow start forced Staley to take action at the interval. “I said a lot, but I’m not going to blow my top,” Staley told reporters when asked what she said to the Gamecocks at halftime. “I understand where they are in this type of game.

“(I’m) not making excuses for them, but when you know, you know – you just try to fight and get them back to a good place. And, I mean, the question mark is… It’s just, they leave you with a lot of questions. They force us to question their ability to lock in and be disciplined.

“They force us to have questions about who should play, who shouldn’t play, all of these things. And it’s just teaching moments moments in which, I don’t know if it goes in one ear and out the other, or if you got to say it at another time and another place for it to really resonate with what we need as a team.”

The Gamecocks enjoyed a perfect 2023-24 season under experienced coach Staley by winning all 38 of their games, including the 87-75 victory against Caitlin Clark’s Iowa in the National Championship game. Yet they have already lost once this season, with star center Kamilla Cardoso now playing for the Chicago Sky in the WNBA.

When asked about South Carolina’s struggles in the first half on Thursday, Staley replied: “Sometimes it’s a focus thing. Sometimes, you don’t want to play the way that, probably, your coaches think you’re going to play, and it’s an adverse effect.

Like, shooting 14 percent – that is, even on our worst days, you don’t really shoot 14 percent. Give us in (the) 20s, that’s one or two extra layups that we missed.

“And it’s just settling in. I mean, Charleston Southern was a good team that challenged us. They challenged us to keep them in front of us; they challenged us to guard the three, outside the three.

They challenged us when they got ahead of the possession, and we had to scramble out, and they were finding the right matchup. And then, they challenged us to box them out, and we didn’t do a really good job throughout the game, especially in the first half.”

Ashlyn Watkins contributed eight points, eight rebounds, and three of South Carolina’s six blocked shots. Catherine Alben led Charleston Southern (4-9) with 14 points, but the team fell to 0-9 all time against the Gamecocks.

Despite the loss, the Buccaneers can take some positives as they prepare to end their non-conference schedule. On the other hand, Staley and her coaching staff might want to attribute this game to holiday break anticipation and avoid watching the tape.

Charleston Southern will open Big South Conference play at Gardner-Webb on January 2. South Carolina is set to play its final game before kicking off its Southeastern Conference schedule, with Wofford visiting on December 29.