#2 South Carolina and #13 Oklahoma meet for the first time as conference rivals on Sunday. Find out how to watch and what to watch for.

1. When in doubt, Joyce Edwards
Every game seems to be another milestone in Joyce Edwards’s development., and she continues to get better an better. The latest milestone was scoring 11 of her career-high 21 points in the fourth quarter to help turn a four-point lead into an 18-point win.

Edwards has said that she understood her biggest adjustment in college would be the physicality. But knowing that and experiencing it are two different things.

“I feel like that was my biggest adjustment, actually,” Edwards said. “Just playing for the Gamecocks, with the Highlighters, helped me improve that. They’re physical. My teammates are physical as well, so I get it every day in practice. Coming out in the game, you just get better every day and eventually you get used to it.”

Now she is posting up, drawing fouls, and finishing through contact. Since SEC play began, Edwards has emerged as one of the Gamecocks’ go-to players when they need a bucket.

Edwards is still improving, which makes the future even more exciting. She can be a better rebounder. She has three-point range, but Edwards’ jump shot isn’t consistent enough yet to balance her driving ability. The future is very bright.

[Win tickets: South Carolina-LSU WBB]

2. Handling Beers
Oklahoma made a splash in the offseason when the Sooners brought in transfer Raegan Beers, one of the top available players in the portal. 

Coach Jennie Baranczyk knew that to compete in the SEC she would need a post presence to supplement her guard-oriented, fast-paced style. Enter the 6-4 Beers, who leads the Sooners with 16.5 points and 8.8 rebounds this season.

South Carolina has played Beers before. Last season Beers put up 16 points and 8 rebounds for Oregon State in a 70-58 loss to South Carolina in the Elite Eight in Albany

Kamilla Cardoso guarded Beers for most of that game, with Sania Feagin picking up the rest. Feagin struggled in that game, but she has gotten better as a defender since then. The Gamecocks didn’t double much, but when they did they were effective.

Beers is a little bit like Iowa State’s Audi Crooks. She isn’t super athletic and doesn’t move especially well, but once she gets the ball in the low post her footwork and shooting touch are elite. (“She’s a pretty big woman,” Edwards deadpanned.)

Earlier this season, South Carolina defended Crooks by fronting her and not letting her get the ball in position to make a play. It was extremely effective, but largely because of Ashlyn Watkins. South Carolina will still try to deny Beers the ball in her spots, but it will look different without Watkins.

“We’ve got to do a lot of our work early,” Edwards said. “Be physical without fouling.”

Don’t be surprised if Staley uses Adhel Tac or Sakima Walker, who are both 6-6, to put some size on Beers. She’ll also try to make Beers play defense and hopefully get in foul trouble.

3. Tessa Time?
Someone on the message board (sorry, I don’t remember who) observed that every time we start to worry that a player has had a couple of quiet games, she responds with a big one. Using that logic, Tessa Johnson is due for a breakout. 

Johnson began SEC play with three consecutive double-figure games, including a career-high 22 at Mississippi State. But in the last two games, she has just nine points total on 3-7 shooting.

Johnson tends to let the game come to her, which has led to few shot attempts. She might need to be more assertive because she’s too good a scorer not to shoot more.

(Coincidentally, while writing this I’m watching the Oregon State game from last season to see how the Gamecocks guarded Beers. Johnson scored a team-high 15 in that game, including a clutch three-point play that basically won the game. More of that, Tessa.)

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4. Availability report
The first availability report for Sunday’s game comes out a little after 8:00pm ET on Saturday.

South Carolina’s availability report for its last game was as clean as it will be for the rest of the season. Only Ahlyn Watkins was listed.

Beers was the only player listed for Oklahoma. She was a Game Time Decision. That decision was for Beers to start and play her normal minutes. 

5. Scouting the Sooners
Beers has her own section, but Oklahoma’s veteran guards have been the heart of the team going back to the Big 12. 

Skylar Vann was the Big 12 Co-Player of the Year last season, although her numbers have dropped to 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds this season. Sahara Williams (10.1 points) was honorable mention All-Big 12 last season.

But the Sooners’ best player might be point guard Payton Verhulst. She was first-team All-Big 12 last season and is better this season, averaging 15.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. Verhulst is also coming in off a career-high 38 points against Missouri on Thursday.

“I say that they’re relentless,” Staley said. “I say that they go end-to-end very quickly and get quick shots up, and that’s hard. They all can score the basketball, and they got a point guard that facilitates and runs their team. It’s got high IQ. When you have the head of the snake with teams like that, they’re just hard to beat with all the talent that they have.”

Even with Beers slowing the tempo slightly, Oklahoma still scores 88.1 points per game, fourth in the country, and attempts 26.2 threes (tied for 20th in the nation), hitting 33.1% for 8.7 per game. 

The Ws
Who: #2 South Carolina (17-1, 5-0) vs #13 Oklahoma (15-3, 3-2)
When: 3:00 ET, Sunday, January 19
Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC
Watch: ESPN

DALE — Denton Forsythe is playing with something to prove this season. 

A junior at Dale, he won titles in his first two years with the Pirates as his older brother Dayton led the program and solidified himself as one of the best players in the state. 

But with Dayton graduating and now playing at OU, there were questions about Dale. 

Would the Pirates maintain their high level of play? 

Would they fade a bit? 

Did they have enough star power?  

Dale had a chance this week to see where it stood among the state’s best.

In the end, the Pirates erased any doubts that may have thrown their way. 

Class 2A top-ranked Dale defeated Class 3A No. 1 Millwood 64-57 inside its home gymnasium Friday.

More: Why did Jeff Craig leave Blanchard football to coach at McAlester? Family comes first

Forsythe had a big night as he led Dale with 22 points, while Jett Higdon had 13 and Tray Chambers added 12. Amari Barrett led Millwood (7-5) with 18. 

“We played extremely hard and extremely well,” Dale coach Jeff Edmonson said. “MIllwood is one of the top teams in the state. That’s a big-time win, so I’m really proud of our boys.” 

Dale had won 57 straight home games into the matchup, and the gym was packed Friday. 

“We knew this place was gonna be rocking,” Forsythe said. “We got to give thanks to all of our fans. We knew Millwood was gonna come, because we beat them last year, we knew they were gonna come with energy and effort. I’m just proud of these guys, the way they played and competed.” 

Dale didn’t have the greatest start and trailed 15-9 after Millwood’s Isaiah Wilks hit a jumper at the end of the first quarter. 

But with Forsythe leading the charge, Dale fought back, trailed 29-25 at halftime and dominated after the break. 

“He played with a lot of heart,” Edmonson said of Forsythe. “They all do. Everybody made big plays. Every single one of them on both ends of the floor.” 

Forsythe views this as one of the best wins of his career. 

The Pirates are now 17-2. Their lone losses were in December at the Tournament of Champions, where they fell to Class 4A top-ranked Weatherford 59-58 and to Class 4A third-ranked Crossings Christian 62-49. 

“We got a bunch of momentum going forward,” Forsythe said. “I’m proud of these guys. And the way we just celebrated in that locker room shows you how much these guys care about each other.” 

More: Owasso’s Bella Nelson named 2024-25 Gatorade Oklahoma Girls Cross Country Runner of Year

Dale girls rout Millwood

The Class 2A top-ranked Dale girls squad blew past Millwood 66-37, improving to 18-1 on the season. 

Danika Pendley led Dale with 19 points, while Teague Muncy had 15 and Ava Bell added 11 against the Falcons (5-6). 

“We did a good job getting the ball inside,” Dale coach Eric Smith said. “They have a hard time guarding us inside. We’re pretty big and long and strong. And then defensively, it was good for the most part all night long.” 

The season is going well for Dale, the state runner-up last year. 

The Pirates’ only loss was to Class 3A top-ranked Washington at Dale’s home tournament in December, but they avenged that when they defeated Washington later in the month at the Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic in Ada. 

“It’s been a good season — 2A is as hard and as tough as I’ve ever seen it in a while,” Smith said. “Pocola is really good, Hartshorne is really good, Okemah is really good. I mean, there’s 10 or 12 teams that I think could make the state tournament, so It’s been a challenge for us.”

More: NFHS recognizes Ada tennis coach Terry Swopes as Oklahoma Coach of the Year

Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

The short handed Dallas Mavericks (23-19) bested the short handed Oklahoma City Thunder (34-7) 106-98 in an intense matchup Friday night in Dallas. Kyrie Irving led all Mavericks with 25 points, five assists, and five rebounds, while Jalen Williams put up 19 points for the Thunder in a losing effort. Dallas got a much needed win, ending a three-game losing streak, while Oklahoma City suffered just their second loss in their last 21 games.

Dallas continued to be without starters Luka Doncic and Dereck Lively, but the big injury news was in Oklahoma. MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a late scratch with a sore wrist, missing his first game of the season and joining Isiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren in street clothes. The stars may have been missing, but it was still an intense matchup between two Western Conference contenders.

This was a game of runs, starting with Dallas taking a 10-0 lead off hot shooting from Kyrie Irving and PJ Washington. That was followed by the Thunder going on a 26-12 run to take a 26-22 lead into the second quarter. The Mavs countered with a huge 19-0 run at the end of the first half to go up by 20 points. If the second quarter was one of the best of the Mavericks season, the third quarter was one of the worst. Oklahoma City outscored Dallas 33-14 in the third, setting up a consequential fourth quarter.

It was a neck and neck fourth quarter until Spencer Dinwiddie hit two clutch threes, extending the lead to 101-93. Notable Thunder killer PJ Washington had a huge dunk to put the exclamation point on a great Mavericks win.

Here are our main thoughts from the game:

Role players stepped up

With Doncic’s return still being weeks away, Dallas has a huge offensive role to fill. When they play tough teams like the Thunder, the Mavericks need Kyrie Irving to play like an All-Star and get production from multiple role players. Tonight, they got both. Irving had 25 points and was joined in double figures by Washington, Dinwiddie, and Naji Marshall. Even more impressively, they combined to shoot 12/26 from three for an efficient 46%. They need each and every one of those points in a game that was a slugfest.

It’s impossible to replace what Doncic brings to this team, but the Mavericks need to find a way to win games without him in a competitive Western Conference. If they can get points from three or four role players, Dallas can beat anyone as evidenced by tonight.

Rebounding woes continue

Despite the Mavericks holding the Thunder to just 38% shooting from the field, this game came to the wire. That’s mainly down to Dallas giving up 20 second chance points off offensive rebounds. With Oklahoma City only scoring 98 points, second chance points accounts for a staggering 20% of their total offense. Without Hartenstein and Holmgren, Oklahoma City isn’t even a good rebounding team, yet that’s how they were able to stay in the game on a cold shooting night.

This is a familiar problem for Dallas, who are the fourth worst team in the league in giving up offensive rebounds. The Mavericks are simply not a good rebounding team, and they’re significantly worse without Luka. This is one of the biggest weaknesses with this team and needs to be a point of emphasis for the rest of the season.

Two more Mavericks injuries

It wouldn’t be a Dallas Mavericks game this season if there wasn’t a worrisome injury to a key rotation piece, but tonight we had two. Jaden Hardy went down with a right ankle sprain after a collision with Isiah Joe in the second quarter and did not return to the game. Then in the third quarter, Dwight Powell slipped closing out on Jaylin Williams and couldn’t get up off the floor. Powell was escorted to the locker room and also did not return to the game.

These injuries could not come at a worse time for Dallas. Hardy was having one of the best stretches of his career, scoring over 20 points against the Lakers and Pelicans in recent games. Powell was becoming a bigger part of the rotation with Lively out. The Mavs will have to get creative with their center rotation – look for Maxi Kleber and even Washington to play more minutes at center.

It’s unclear as of this writing whether Hardy or Powell will miss time, but they would join Doncic, Lively, Kessler Edwards, Dante Exum, and Jazian Gortman on an already lengthy injury report. The basketball gods are certainly testing the theory that this is the deepest Mavericks team of the Luka era. Exum seems to be close to returning, but Dallas has a real shortage of playable bodies in the short term.

These teams do not like each other

Even without the star players, this game was intense, highly competitive, and often chippy. PJ Washington was somewhat predictably at the center of the charged moments. Washington and Lu Dort wrestled over possession until Dort fell to the ground. Washington stood over Dort for a moment, which led to Aaron Wiggins shoving Washington. It was a whole lot of nothing, but led to double techs. Later in the game, Washington fouled Jaylen Williams in a hard, mid-air foul, which was ruled a flagrant one. If Oklahoma City fans hated Washington during last season’s playoff series, they’ll really hate him after tonight.

In general, it was a hard fought defensive battle. Players were diving for loose balls, playing aggressive defense, and living and dying on every shot. The Dallas crowd was loud and engaged – it felt like a playoff atmosphere.

If tonight is any indication, a full strength Mavericks and Thunder matchup in the playoffs would be one of the more exciting possible series. Let’s hope we get to see it come May.

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