The Gamecocks’ sophomore sensation fielded the pass, leaped off two feet with confidence — with Payton Verhulst’s outstretched arm slightly in her sight — and drained her only 3-pointer of the game. Fulwiley greeted the Carolina Band as well as Gamecock cheerleaders and fans with a big smile before briefly skipping down the left sideline inside Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Her shot gave the Gamecocks an 83-65 advantage against the Sooners with 3:39 remaining.

Little did Fulwiley know that it would be her last field goal of the contest. With 2:03 to play in South Carolina’s (29-3) eventual 93-75 victory against Oklahoma (25-7) to advance to an SEC-record sixth consecutive tournament championship game, head coach Dawn Staley subbed her second-leading scorer out of the game. As Fulwiley walked to the sideline, the SEC Sixth Woman of the Year shared a few chuckles with her coach before she received multiple high-fives from her teammates and walked to the end of the bench.

“I can’t remember what [Staley] told me,” Fulwiley told reporters postgame. “She was just telling me that I played good.”

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Not only did Fulwiley play well, she made smart decisions with the ball and was efficient, hitting 8 of 17 shots to finish with 19 points, five assists and three rebounds.

The moment felt all too familiar, but things were different. 

Nearly a year ago to the date, Fulwiley played in her first SEC Tournament semifinal and delivered 13 points, four rebounds and a steal in 13 minutes in the Gamecocks’ dramatic 74-73 win against Tennessee en route to the program’s eighth conference tournament championship. 

But on Saturday, Fulwiley’s journey — one where she once advocated for more playing time off the bench and felt comfortable voicing that to Staley — delivered more clarity and understanding. One of women’s college basketball’s most electrifying players feels freer and more comfortable as she heads into the title game on Sunday and a run toward another NCAA championship in a few weeks.

“I think it was really all up to me, and I’m glad I finally actually understood that part,” Fulwiley told reporters about her growth on the team. “I’m glad that I just stayed positive for everything. We got great coaches. They all kept my head high, and they all told me what [my role] was. … The outsiders, they didn’t really even know. But I’m glad that the coaches got me together.”

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As a freshman, Fulwiley started only three games and averaged 11.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 43.8% from the floor. Yet the 5’10 guard also took home SEC Tournament MVP honors that year. 

Through two games in this year’s tournament, Fulwiley has registered a combined 34 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. She has also generated several highlight plays, including an emphatic steal, a jaw-dropping cradle layup and a sensational behind-the-back pass to teammate Sania Feagin for a scoring opportunity in the Gamecocks’ victory over Vanderbilt.

And to think, Fulwiley is only in Year 2. That’s something Staley doesn’t take for granted.

“[Fulwiley] is still very young,” Staley said. “She has played probably her entire life doing what she wants to do and does it well. … So we have to figure out how we get her to be a better reader out there on the floor. What we’ve been working on with her is just simplifying, making the layups, direct line drives, utilizing her speed. … There’s nobody that can beat her when she has the ball. … That is her superpower.”

Staley added, “She’s been great to just kind of go through this journey with. … She’s such a great player, and you want to see her just complete her journey in a way that makes her a better pro, makes her more predictable, makes her more reliable.”

Related reading: South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao is poetry in motion

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With Saturday’s win, South Carolina will face Texas (31-2) on Sunday afternoon in the SEC title game. It will be the third matchup between the two AP top-five opponents this season. The teams split the regular-season games: South Carolina captured a 67-50 win on Jan. 12, while the Longhorns earned their revenge on Feb. 9, 66-62.

Against Texas this season, Fulwiley totaled 21 points, six rebounds, three assists and six steals. As Texas seeks to follow up its first co-SEC regular-season title with a first SEC Tournament title, Fulwiley hopes to play a part in winning her second and South Carolina’s ninth SEC Tournament crown since 2015. 

But even as Staley prepares her players for the big stage that has become a mainstay in the DNA of the Gamecocks’ program, she wants to continue to allow her sophomore star to become the player she wants to be — one that Staley deems powerful and a generational talent.

“We don’t want to strip [Fulwiley] away from feeling the game and being out there and taking chances sometimes,” Staley said. “Within those chances, there’s some greatness that’s taking place.”

Chaz Lanier played just 17 career games at Food City Center. He made a lasting impression in his last one.

The Tennessee senior guard brought the Vols back to life in their regular season finale against South Carolina on Saturday afternoon, turning a slugfest into a 75-65 triumph over a pesky Gamecocks team that has given even the biggest of the SEC Goliaths fits this season on Senior Day.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Fourth-ranked Tennessee (25-6, 12-6 SEC), which will be no lower than a 4-seed in the SEC Tournament in Nashville next week, bounced back from a two-point road loss at Ole Miss and will head into the postseason with some recaptured momentum.

Lanier dazzled in his final act in Knoxville. He followed up 1-of-4 shooting in the first half with one of those scoring stretches that made a 25 minute tug-of-war a memory after he broke away on a fastbreak and scored to put the Vols up 10 with 5:32 left.

Lanier finished with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, and three 3-pointers. Cade Phillips scored 15, Igor Milicic Jr. totaled 13 and Jordan Gainey had 10.

South Carolina (12-19, 2-16) out-rebounded Tennessee, 32-31 but the Vols dominated in points in the paint, finishing with a 42-24 edge.

Igor Milicic Jr., whose last shot attempt missed off of the rim as time expired in a two-point loss at Ole Miss four nights before, opened Saturday with a 3-pointer. He hit another a few minutes later, pacing Tennessee to a 13-7 lead more than six minutes into the first half.

Fittingly on Senior Day, it was Milicic and Jahmai Mashack had all of the Vols points early. Cade Phillips added two more with a dunk out of a timeout and Darlinstone Dubar scored by way of a goal tending call to stretch Tennessee’s lead to 17-9.

Arden Conyers answered with a three to trim that lead to seven, but Phillips clapped back with another dunk to send the Vols into the under 12 timeout up 19-12.

Zakai Zeigler hadn’t scored by that point, but he was had dished the ball on seven of Tennessee’s first eight field goals with still more than 11 minutes left in the half.

South Carolina went three-plus minutes without a basket, meanwhile Jordan Gainey put the Vols up 10 with a jumper to lead 23-13 with inside of nine minutes left.

Zachary Davis ended the Gamecocks’ drought with a layup, then Jamarii Thomas laced a 3-pointer from the corner to get within five at 23-18. Chaz Lanier came back down and knocked down a three in response, but Tennessee fell into a three minute scoring drought and South Carolina built on its run to pull within one at 26-25 with 4:23 to go.

Thomas put the Gamecocks in front for the firs time with another three with 2:09 left, but Dubar pulled the Vols back in front on the other end. It went back-and-forth from there over the last minute of the half.

A Conyers 3-pointer gave South Carolina the lead back with 20 seconds left, but Tennessee evened the score at halftime, 34-34 after an and-1 from Phillips.

The slugfest spilled over into the second and so did the foul trouble. In the first two minutes, Zeigler and Felix Okpara were whistled for their third fouls and went to the bench.

Milicic scored on an and-1 and Lanier hit a three out of a timeout to give the Vols the lead back after the Gamecocks went up. Tennessee started to create some separation with a score from Gainey off of an offensive rebound and a Lanier layup and foul swelled its lead to 48-42 with 12:57 left.

Conyers kept South Carolina hanging around with his third 3-pointer to get back within three. Collin Murray-Boyles did the same after a Phillips score, but Lanier provided a jolt with back-to-back threes to push the Vols’ lead to 56-47.

Tennessee went up by 12 on a Phillips’ dunk that he was fouled on on the way up, but the second half was still the Chaz Lanier Show. After the Gamecocks got their deficit under 10, he scored on a deflating fastbreak layup to put the Vols back up 10.

Lanier had already planted the dagger, but he drove it in with a step-back jumper with 1:30 remaining to lead by 12, and South Carolina didn’t have the firepower or the time to recover.

Tennessee locked up at least the 4-seed in the SEC Tournament in Nashville with its win over South Carolina, but could move up by Saturday night.

Alabama, which currently holds the 3-seed behind 1-seed Auburn and 2-seed Florida, play the Tigers for the second time at 2:30 p.m. ET. A loss would allow the Vols to jump the Crimson Tide for the 3-seed by way of tiebreaker.

Regardless, Tennessee will get the double-bye and will play Friday at Bridgestone Arena. The Vols made a quick exit at the tournament a year ago, falling to Mississippi State before going on an Elite Eight run in the NCAA Tournament.

The Oklahoma Sooners got off to a strong start in SEC play with their 10-9 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday night. It was a matchup of top 10 teams and it looked like a game that could be played in Oklahoma City later this year.

Oklahoma got on the board first, but then the Gamecocks jumped out to a big 5-1 lead in the second. Home runs from Isabela Emerling in the second and Gabby Garcia in the third put the Sooners back on top, but South Carolina wouldn’t go away.

But Oklahoma showed its resilience, responding quickly to South Carolina tying the game in the top of the fifth as Emerling hit her second two-run home run of the night in the bottom of the inning. Hannah Coor provided the insurance on a two-RBI double in the sixth, and the Sooners held on for the win.

More: No. 1 Oklahoma outlasts No. 10 South Carolina 10-9 for first SEC win

Oklahoma moved to 20-0 on the season and 1-0 in SEC play. They’re the only remaining undefeated team in Division I. They may be in a new conference, with new challenges, but the Sooners just keep finding ways to win.

The SEC is going to be a grind. Just like it was in football and in basketball. Friday night showed that wins won’t come easy on a weekend to weekend basis. But the Sooners showed that although they’re much younger than they’ve been, they’re just as good as they ever were. There may be a lot of new faces, but the Sooners are one of the best teams in the nation for a reason.

It was a thrilling opening night in SEC play and here’s how social media reacted to the Sooners win.

Same as it ever was

No, Riley, we’re not

Huge Top 10 Win

Isabela Emerling had a night

What a way to open SEC Play

Punishing it like it stole something

She’s Her

Freshman Came up Big

It’s what They do

Magical Friday night

South Carolina is really Good

Friday Night to Remember

OU vs South Carolina Part 2 on Saturday: A Prelude?