South-Carolina

Undefeated South Carolina No. 1 in Albany region full of fresh faces

Published

2 years ago

March 18, 2024

Undefeated South Carolina No. 1 in Albany region full of fresh faces

For the fourth straight season, South Carolina is a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And once again, Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks are the favorites to win the Big Dance.

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South Carolina (32-0) just completed their second consecutive undefeated regular season and captured the program’s eighth Southeastern Conference Tournament title. The Gamecocks will begin their pursuit of a third national championship under the direction of Staley on Friday at home in Columbia, S.C. The Gamecocks will take on the winner of a First Four matchup between a pair of 16-seeds, Sacred Heart (22-9) and Presbyterian (17-14).

The Gamecocks will have to play that game without leading scorer and rebounder Kamilla Cardoso, who must serve a one-game suspension after she was ejected from the SEC championship game for what the referees deemed was fighting during a late-game skirmish with LSU. Cardoso averages 14 points and 9.5 rebounds per game and sixth nationally in defensive rating with a 71.8 mark.

“We all know that we’re a better basketball team when Kamilla Cardoso is in the lineup,” Staley said Sunday. “We’ll make do hopefully until she’s able to come back.”

Staley, who this week was voted Coach of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association for the third straight year, has won comfortably without Cardoso this season though. The Gamecocks beat Missouri and UConn by an average margin of 28 points while the 6-foot-7 center was playing with the Brazilian national team in February. Cardoso also missed a 48-point win over Kentucky, when she was sidelined for rest.

In the win over UConn, it was Te-Hina Paopao who stepped up and scored 21 points. The transfer from Oregon has flourished under Staley, shooting a career-best 47.1 percent from 3-point land this season, which is 11th best in the country. Freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley has played well lately too, averaging 15 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game over her last six outings. Fulwiley was named SEC Tournament MVP after scoring 24 points in 16 minutes in the title game.

Fulwiley isn’t the only stellar freshman in the Albany 1 region. No. 2 Notre Dame (26-6) has been powered this season by Hannah Hidalgo, who has piled up stats and accolades.

After being voted Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Hidalgo poured in 58 points, 18 rebounds and 18 assists in three days in Greensboro, N.C. to help Notre Dame win its first ACC Tournament title since 2019. Hidalgo leads the nation in steals with 4.6 per game.

“Hannah is a special player,” Irish teammate Sonia Citron said. “We knew before she even played a game. Just when she came in in the summer, she just has a different mentality, so in workouts, in practices, we kind of just knew she was going to be special. She’s just different.”

While the Irish have three players averaging double figures in scoring – Citron and Maddy Westbeld join Hidalgo’s 23.3 points per game in that group – they lack depth. Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said Sunday that starting forward Kylee Watson would miss the NCAA Tournament with a torn ACL she suffered in the ACC Tournament. Notre Dame has played all of this season without All-American guard Olivia Miles, who had knee surgery last offseason.

Should South Carolina and Notre Dame meet in the Elite Eight, it will be a rematch of the season-opener for both teams, a 29-point win for the Gamecocks on a neutral court in Paris, France.

While South Carolina is undefeated, the nation’s second-longest win streak belongs to the Fairfield Stags, who are seeded 13th in this region. The Stags (31-1) – guided by second-year coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis – have won 29 games in a row and are ranked 25th in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. Fairfield, which begins its tournament at No. 4 Indiana, is also led by a standout freshman in forward Meghan Andersen, who averages 15.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

“We’re excited to get ready and prepare for the week ahead and figure out the plan. It’s a team and a league I’m familiar with so I’m excited to get back to Big Ten country,” said Thibault-DuDonis, who was an assistant at Minnesota before coaching Fairfield.

The Stags will aim to pull off an upset over the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Ind. The last MAAC team to win an NCAA Tournament game was Quinnipiac in 2018.

—On the other side of Indiana’s host site is No. 5 Oklahoma (22-9) against No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast (27-4). While the Sooners won the Big 12 regular season title, FGCU – coached Karl Smesko in his 21st season – has made a habit of first-round upsets. Since 2018, the Eagles have advanced to the second round in three of their last five tournament appearances.

—In the second round, South Carolina will likely face the winner of No. 8 North Carolina (19-12) vs. No. 9 Michigan State (22-8).

A meeting with the Tar Heels would be a rematch of a Nov. 30 game in Chapel Hill, which the Gamecocks won by seven points despite trailing by as much as 11 points in the second quarter. UNC and South Carolina also faced off in the 2022 Sweet 16 in Greensboro, N.C.

—This is the first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance for Presbyterian. Tilda Sjokvist, a sophomore from Sweden, leads the Blue Hose with 13 points and 3.5 assists per game.

—Mitchell Northam, Field Level Media

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South-Carolina

David Pascoe: ‘South Carolina Isn’t Run by Republicans’ – FITSNews

Published

10 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

David Pascoe: ‘South Carolina Isn’t Run by Republicans’ – FITSNews

by DAVID PASCOE

***

Republicans have a supermajority in South Carolina; yet, our state is more liberal than the purple states that border us. John Adams once said, “facts are stubborn things.” Well, the facts prove our State Republican leadership gets its playbook from the Democratic Party.

In 2024, I was one of the only elected officials to endorse conservative Republican JD Chaplin in his campaign against liberal Democrat Gerald Malloy, who blocked every single pro-law enforcement bill in the General Assembly. Malloy was one of the most powerful lawyer-legislators in the state and teamed often with Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to stifle conservative legislation. I met with Republicans in both Houses of the General Assembly and tried to rally them to support the REPUBLICAN nominee. They refused because they either feared Malloy and feared the lawyer-legislators in power who supported him. In my endorsement of Chaplin, I stated that the two-party system in South Carolina is not R vs. D but those who strive to serve others vs. those who strive to serve themselves. Luckily, JD Chaplin beat Gerald Malloy without the help of any Republican leadership in the General Assembly.

In our state, we have witnessed the liberal Republican Party establishment demonize and attempt to defeat conservative fighters because they are members of the Freedom Caucus. They use political consultants (The Swamp Parasites) giving them offices on State House property to attack the Freedom Caucus, the very men and women who exemplify what it means to be a conservative and fight against corruption and cronyism. The leadership in the General Assembly would rather work with liberal Democrats than work together with their fellow Republicans. But here is a coincidental fact – 30% of the General Assembly are lawyer-legislators; less than 10% of Freedom Caucus members are lawyer-legislators.

***

Let me tell you the core reason we are a liberal state and why I have enemies: conservatives are not really in charge of South Carolina. The lawyer-legislator uniparty is.

Nearly 30% of the General Assembly are lawyers. They control all of the money, the judiciary, and the most important committees. That is not representative government. That’s a cartel.

When lawyers gain unchecked political power, they do not just write laws. They shape the system to benefit themselves. They design rules that ordinary citizens cannot understand, navigate, or challenge. That is exactly what has happened in South Carolina.

For over 30 years, liberal Republicans have controlled the State House. Liberal control has given us a judicial system dominated by legislative insiders. We have judges effectively chosen by the same lawyers who practice before them. We have legislative privilege routinely abused to delay cases, rearrange court dockets, and keep powerful clients out of trouble.

***

David Pascoe (Dylan Nolan/FITSNews)

***

What we have is a uniparty. A trial lawyer uniparty. Republicans and Democrats alike who share two things in common: they are lawyers who benefit from controlling the courts, and they cannot stand me because I am about to stand in their way as Attorney General. Their bank accounts cannot afford for me to win.

I have seen this system up close. I spent decades as a prosecutor. I led the State House Corruption Probe that exposed a pay-to-play culture operating at the highest levels of government. That investigation did not make me popular in Columbia. It did, however, make something very clear. Corruption does not thrive in chaos. It thrives in systems designed to protect insiders and punish anyone who challenges them.

The most powerful examples of this system are the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. These Committees are where judicial reform and pro-life legislation go to die. It is where lawyer-legislators protect their influence. It is where bills that threaten legislative control of the courts quietly disappear. This is not about party labels. It is about power. Worst of all, it is often about using public service for personal profit.

Under this system, lawyer-legislators decide which judges are allowed to be considered. And then they walk into courtrooms across South Carolina expecting favorable treatment from the very judges whose careers they control. That is not separation of powers. That is consolidation of power.

***

RELATED | BOUGHT AND PAID FOR

***

Families lose. Crime victims lose. Small businesses lose. And public trust evaporates.

This system did not develop by accident. It was built deliberately, layer by layer, and it continues because too many elected officials tolerate it. I’ve spent the last five years calling it out, which is the reason self dealing RINOs will stop at nothing to take down my campaign for Attorney General.

Bring. It. On.

The liberal Republicans aren’t winning this battle. As your next Attorney General, I will dismantle the lawyer-legislator uniparty for good, starting with Weston Newton’s stranglehold on this state. And more importantly, I will make it impossible for them to profit from their public service

If South Carolina wants real reform, it has to start by breaking the trial lawyer uniparty’s grip on the judiciary. It has to restore balance. It has to put citizens back ahead of insiders. I did not spend my career prosecuting corruption to stay quiet now. This system can be fixed. But only if we are honest about who really runs it.

Join me in this fight and let’s crush corruption in South Carolina.

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

David Pascoe is solicitor for South Carolina’s first judicial circuit, which includes Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties. He is a Republican candidate for attorney general of the Palmetto State.

***

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South-Carolina

Clemson’s Defense Takes Care Of South Carolina, Picks Up Palmetto Series Win

Published

23 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Clemson’s Defense Takes Care Of South Carolina, Picks Up Palmetto Series Win

The Clemson Tigers prevailed on the hardwood against the South Carolina Gamecocks, winning 68-61 at Littlejohn Coliseum on Tuesday night.

Defense ruled the roost for Clemson, which allowed only four successful threes from 26 attempts by South Carolina, a low 15.4%. The Tigers forced 14 turnovers and turned them into 16 points of their own, a credit to how the team can slow down opposing offenses.

South Carolina’s 61 points are the lowest that the Gamecocks have scored all season, a credit to head coach Brad Brownell’s defense.

Redshirt freshman Ace Buckner took advantage of the opportunity he was given, seeing extended time while playing the most minutes he had all season. With two Tigers injured during the game, he took over, finishing with a career-high 19 points and seven rebounds.

The bench led the way for Clemson (9-3), scoring 41 points to South Carolina’s 14 in the win. In addition to Buckner, Carter Welling came off the bench and finished with 16 points and four rebounds. The big man would also have three steals on Tuesday night.

The Tigers’ starting unit struggled to get going in the first five minutes, leading to a full shuffle of the lineup after being down as much as seven. Then, the bench unit carried Clemson out of the hole, gaining the lead by the 12:25 mark in the first half and not giving it back.

There was bad news from Tuesday’s win involving true freshman Zac Foster, who exited the game in the first half with a knee injury. He did not return to the game and was not on the bench in the second half with his team. The four-star prospect, according to 247Sports, will await the timeline that comes next with his injury.

Fellow guard Butta Johnson also missed the second half with a left leg injury, having a physical play close to the basket that also had him slow to get up.

It led to the opportunity for Buckner, who played 17 minutes in the second half and scored 15 of his points in the final frame. He would also finish with two steals in the win.

While the Tigers shot well from the field, they struggled from the free throw line. Clemson made 60% of its free throws, missing 12 in the win.

Clemson will be back in action in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday afternoon, playing Cincinnati at the Bon Secour Wellness Arena in the 2025 Greenville Winter Invitational.

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South-Carolina

South Carolina Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for Dec. 15, 2025

Published

2 days ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

South Carolina Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for Dec. 15, 2025

The South Carolina Education Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Dec. 15, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from Dec. 15 drawing

23-35-59-63-68, Powerball: 02, Power Play: 4

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 Plus FIREBALL numbers from Dec. 15 drawing

Midday: 5-9-2, FB: 6

Evening: 1-3-7, FB: 2

Check Pick 3 Plus FIREBALL payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 Plus FIREBALL numbers from Dec. 15 drawing

Midday: 0-2-2-8, FB: 6

Evening: 7-5-9-6, FB: 2

Check Pick 4 Plus FIREBALL payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash Pop numbers from Dec. 15 drawing

Midday: 10

Evening: 15

Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Palmetto Cash 5 numbers from Dec. 15 drawing

04-07-16-25-35

Check Palmetto Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

The South Carolina Education Lottery provides multiple ways to claim prizes, depending on the amount won:

For prizes up to $500, you can redeem your winnings directly at any authorized South Carolina Education Lottery retailer. Simply present your signed winning ticket at the retailer for an immediate payout.

Winnings $501 to $100,000, may be redeemed by mailing your signed winning ticket along with a completed claim form and a copy of a government-issued photo ID to the South Carolina Education Lottery Claims Center. For security, keep copies of your documents and use registered mail to ensure the safe arrival of your ticket.

SC Education Lottery

P.O. Box 11039

Columbia, SC 29211-1039

For large winnings above $100,000, claims must be made in person at the South Carolina Education Lottery Headquarters in Columbia. To claim, bring your signed winning ticket, a completed claim form, a government-issued photo ID, and your Social Security card for identity verification. Winners of large prizes may also set up an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) for convenient direct deposit of winnings.

Columbia Claims Center

1303 Assembly Street

Columbia, SC 29201

Claim Deadline: All prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the draw date for draw games.

For more details and to access the claim form, visit the South Carolina Lottery claim page.

When are the South Carolina Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 10:59 p.m. ET on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 3: Daily at 12:59 p.m. (Midday) and 6:59 p.m. (Evening).
Pick 4: Daily at 12:59 p.m. (Midday) and 6:59 p.m. (Evening).
Cash Pop: Daily at 12:59 p.m. (Midday) and 6:59 p.m. (Evening).
Palmetto Cash 5: 6:59 p.m. ET daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Carolina editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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